US seeks 'transparent account' of Kadhafi's death

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC)
fighters celebrate in the streets of Tripoli
© AFP/File Marco Longari

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Friday urged Libya’s interim leaders to provide “a transparent account” of the death of strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

The National Transitional Council “has already been working to determine the precise cause and circumstances of Kadhafi’s death and we obviously urge them to do so in an open and transparent manner as we move forward,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

“We also continue to urge them, as we have been over the past months, to treat prisoners humanely,” Toner added.

US President Barack Obama said Thursday that Kadhafi’s death ended decades of “iron fist” rule in Libya and warned Arab tyrants that it showed their brutal regimes would inevitably fall.

“This is a momentous day in the history of Libya,” said Obama, adding that “the dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted.”

But Libya’s leaders were under pressure Friday to proclaim the country’s liberation and move toward democracy, amid euphoria over Kadhafi’s death despite still murky circumstances.

With suggestions, including from Russia, that the deposed dictator may have been summarily executed after his capture on Thursday, Moscow, the UN human rights chief and Amnesty International called for an investigation.

The National Transitional Council, Libya’s new rulers, had been expected to issue a promised declaration that the country was finally freed following the death of Kadhafi, his son Mutassim and other top regime figures, and the fall of his hometown Sirte.

Such a declaration would be followed by the formation of an interim government to oversee drawing up a new constitution and holding free elections after four decades of dictatorship.

But with another Kadhafi son — longtime heir-apparent Seif al-Islam — still unaccounted for, NTC leaders waited, despite jubilation in towns across the country at the news that the once-all powerful tyrant was dead.