Great Britain urges Algerian authorities to hand over exiled Gaddafi family to Libya's new rulers
The Algerian authorities should cooperate with the new regime in Libya over members of the Gaddafi family who took refuge in Algeria, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters on Wednesday in Algiers.
- The fugitive leader’s daughter Aisha fled to Algeria late in August with her brother Hannibal, their mother Safiya Gaddafi’s second wife and his eldest son Mohammed. Aisha has since given birth to a baby girl.
-
Asked about members of ousted strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s family who had fled from Libya, Hague said: “Our belief (is) that Algeria should work with the Libyan authorities on any requests they will make about people who have come into the country.
-
Hague, speaking at a joint press conference in Algiers with his Algerian counterpart Mourad Medelci, said he had made the same point in every country he had visited on his regional tour.
-
“I have also made a request in all countries I visited in the region,” concerning “people who are fugitives from international justice,” he said.
-
It was important to work with the National Transitional Council (NTC), Libya’s interim authority, and the Hague-based court to ensure that anyone wanted by the courts was brought to justice, he said.
-
“We took them in for humanitarian reasons, President Abdel Jalil acknowledged we were within our rights to do so,” Medelci said, referring to Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of Libya’s National Transitional Council.
-
“We have informal relations with the CNT, which today have become official,” he added. Abdel Jalil had received Algeria’s ambassador to Tripoli on Tuesday and they had had constructive talks, he added.
- Asked about the issue of terrorism, Hague said Algeria and Britain had worked particularly closely in this field.
-
Already Tuesday, on his arrival in Algiers, Hague said: “We will continue to support Algeria in its fight against Al-Qaeda and to encourage a regional approach to this common terrorist threat.” William Hague’s visit to Algeria is the final leg of a North African tour that has already taken him to Libya, Morocco and Mauritania.