'Book not closed' on Gaddafi

2004-06-03 14:17

Freetown, Sierra Leone - The chief prosecutor for a UN-Sierra Leone war-crimes court on Wednesday left open the possibility of indicting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as an alleged culprit in the West African nation's vicious 10-year civil war.

Prosecutor David Crane spoke on the eve of trial of the court, noting the Libyan leader was already named in court indictments as a conspirator with rebel forces in the 1991-2002 war.

Gaddafi "has been involved in the tragedy that took place in Sierra Leone," Crane told a news conference in Freetown, the capital.

"I am not shy in indicting anybody. The book is not yet closed and we are still investigating," Crane said.

Gaddafi was a Cold War-backer of several African rebel figures, and long alleged to have provided training at Libyan guerrilla camps for insurgents who went on to play central roles in West Africa's 1990s conflicts.

Graduates of those camps include Liberian President Charles Taylor and his alleged ally in the war in Sierra Leone, rebel leader Foday Sankoh.

Indictments last year say both men received mid-1980s training "in revolutionary tactics and guerrilla warfare in Libya from representatives of the government of Muammar al Gaddafi."

Any Libyan support of the Sierra Leone insurgency is believed to have ebbed by the mid-1990s.

- AP