LOC19:48
16:48 GMT
LONDON, Oct 25 (KUNA) -- A British military team is hunting missing
missiles in post-Gaddafi Libya, the UK Government said Tuesday.
Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt told MPs experts were searching for
surface-to-air missiles which vanished as the country descended into civil war.
Burt said: "There is already a team of people from the UK assisting both in
dealing with the collection of weapons of small arms and also looking after
the issue in relation to the surface-to-air missiles that have gone missing in
the area.
"We have also got people involved in demining and decommissioning."
Burt said it was essential militia fighters who helped oust Colonel Muammar
Gaddafi from his 42-year rule came under the control of Libya's interim
government, the National Transitional Council (NTC).
Opposition Labour Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander called on
ministers to press the NTC to speed-up the surrendering of guns used in the
eight-month revolution, which led to Gaddafi's bloody death last Thursday in
Sirte.
Alexander said: "Libya is still awash with weapons, including heavy weapons
left over from the Gaddafi era." Meanwhile, Burt criticised the apparent
summary executions of the toppled dictator's former supporters.
Human Rights Watch yesterday said the bodies of 53 Gaddafi loyalists were
found at a Sirte hotel after they were allegedly executed.
The victims - some of whom had their hands bound - reportedly died about a
week ago.
For his part, Liberal Democrat former foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies
Campbell today condemned the killings, which may have happened before Gaddafi
was caught and killed.
Speaking at Foreign Office questions in the House of Commns, Sir Menzies
said: "Does the Government share my revulsion at reports that supporters of
Gaddafi have been subject to revenge executions without any semblance of due
process?
"Should not our satisfaction at the military outcome now be accompanied by
a determination to persuade the new government of Libya not to allow any
descent into brutality?"
Burt replied: "Unequivocally, yes." But he added: "What we ought to do is
pay due tribute to the work of the National Transitional Council which set out
a clear set of principles on which it would seek to remove the regime and also
by which to govern." He said interim leader Mustapha Abdel Jalil had demanded
"no reprisals, no revenge and respect for human rights" as anti-Gaddafi forces
swept to victory.
Burt said: "In the circumstances of conflict that can be very difficult to
deliver, but there is no doubt the new government has made it clear what its
aims, objectives and principles are.
"It wishes to be different from the previous regime and we are right to
stand by it and its determination to make those principles stick." (end)
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KUNA 251948 Oct 11NNNN