Bombings against Maitigua airport in Tripoli: Ghassan Salamé to report to Security Council and ICC
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative, Ghassan Salamé, also head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), reaffirmed here Tuesday the mission would report on the bombing of the airport of Maitigua in Tripoli to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Security Council and the Sanctions Committee against Libya, describing it as a war crime.
Salamé announced this at a joint press conference held in Tripoli with Interior Minister Fathi Bachagha, and Minister of Communications Milad Maatoug, after a long meeting over the situation at Maitigua airport, which suspended the landing of flights after repeated bombings.
"In fact, we were seconds or minutes away from a disaster that would have occurred without the will of God and the luck of pilgrims and travelers returning home," Salamé told reporters, noting that "An airport like that of Maitigua cannot work in this panic every day".
"This is unnatural and illegal because indiscriminate targeting of places where civilians are resident or traveling is a war crime that does not disappear with the limitation period," he said, emphasizing that "this kind of things will remain under investigation: the type of weapon, the source of the weapons which fired, it will remain indefinitely".
Salame told reporters the mission would send the case to the "Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as to the Security Council and the Committee of Experts of the Security Council", stating that "there is a guaranteed right by law, the right to move in and out of Libyan territory, nobody can break it or stop it”.
The UN envoy also pointed out that "the indiscriminate bombing that took place on Saturday at Maitigua airport almost cost the lives of hundreds of people, whether on the plane that was affected or in the airport station that contained a thousand passengers, not to mention the airport staff; this is necessarily condemned and unacceptable, and we will inform all members of the Security Council and the office of Mrs. Bensouda to the International Criminal Court".
He pointed out that the mission sent out a crew immediately after the bombing to investigate the airport to confirm what had really happened and "to send the most accurate information to the competent international bodies".
He stressed: "Today, we have additional information that we will transfer to these destinations."
Salame added that the mission had also made contact "with a number of concerned countries that could have an impact, in order to do their duty and to hold the parties attacking civilians accountable", hoping that "all this will stop the bombing of Maitigua airport".
The UN envoy said he was returning from a visit to Cairo via Maitigua airport "to confirm first that this airport should not be bombed, also hoping it can be used by travelers in the coming days".
He stressed that one third of the Libyan population was directly affected by the closure of this vital facility which "is the biggest outlet for Libyans abroad".
The UN envoy said the closure of Maitigua airport "is detrimental to the interest of all Libyans, especially those living in Greater Tripoli", saying the mission "will not stop a moment to work by all means announced, especially without notice, to ensure as soon as possible the reopening of this vital facility in Tripoli and Libya.
Air navigation has been suspended until further notice on Maitigua airport and the flights of airlines have been diverted to the city of Misrata, 220 km east of Tripoli, since Monday.
-0- PANA BY/ IS/KND/RA 3sept2019
