NATIONS/DUBAI/BENGHAZI, Libya: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to lift their mandate on Libya on Oct. 31, as the country’s interim leaders said they would bring Moammar Gadhafi’s killers to justice after the former leader’s unsavory end attracted widespread criticism from Western governments and human rights groups.

The Security Council authorized a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17 in response to an Arab League request to try to halt Gadhafi’s military, which was advancing against rebels and threatening civilians. The NATO bombing campaign that followed was critical in helping the rebels oust Gadhafi from power in August.

“This marks a really important milestone in the transition in Libya,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said. “It marks the way from the military phase toward the formation of an inclusive government, the full participation of all sectors of society, and for the Libyan people to choose their own future.”
In Berlin, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance would confirm its earlier, preliminary decision Friday to end operations Oct. 31.

Rasmussen said after meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Thursday’s U.N. resolution “reflects that we have fully accomplished our mandate to protect the civilian population of Libya, so now we have firm ground for terminating our operations as we decided to do a week ago.”

He added that the alliance was ready to assist Libya’s new government in the transformation to democracy, particularly in the areas of defense and security sector reforms. “I wouldn’t expect new tasks beyond that,” he said.
The Security Council adopted the resolution a day after Libya’s deputy U.N. envoy Ibrahim Dabbashi told the council Libyans wanted their sovereignty restored but asked members to hold up action until the transitional government made a formal request, which he hoped would come by Oct. 31.

The U.N.’s most powerful body rejected his request, deciding that there was no need for U.N.-authorized military action following the death of Gadhafi on Oct. 20 and the National Transitional Council’s announcement of liberation on Oct. 23. Last week, NATO announced preliminary plans to phase out its mission on Oct. 31. But the alliance unexpectedly postponed a decision Wednesday, saying Rasmussen needed to continue consultations with the U.N. and Libya’s transitional government. The alliance’s governing body, the North Atlantic Council, was scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the Libyan mission.

The resolution ends the U.N. authorization for military action just before midnight on Oct. 31, which means that Libya will regain control of its airspace and all military operations effective Nov. 1.

The Security Council said it looks forward “to the swift establishment of an inclusive, representative transitional government of Libya” committed to democracy, good governance, rule of law, national reconciliation and respect for human rights. It strongly urged Libyan authorities “to refrain from reprisals,” take measures to prevent others from carrying out reprisals, and to protect the population, “including foreign nationals and African migrants.”
Those two groups have been targeted by anti-Gadhafi forces because they were seen as supporting the late dictator’s regime.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who earlier argued that the resolution authorizing military action was misused by NATO to justify months of airstrikes against Gadhafi’s regime, circulated a resolution last week calling for an end to military operations on Oct. 31.
Churkin welcomed the council’s unanimous vote but told reporters that “numerous violations have taken place” in implementing the Libya resolution and “serious lessons should be drawn for the Security Council.”

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice countered that NATO’s action prevented “mass slaughter” in the eastern city of Benghazi and elsewhere over many months. And she insisted that all council members knew what authorization of the use of force to protect civilians would entail.
“We discussed it very concretely and plainly, and described thoroughly that this would entail active use of air power and air strikes,” she said.

As the air campaign unfolded, Rice said: “There were those that found it increasingly uncomfortable what they had agreed to. But to suggest that somehow they were misled is false.”
France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said his country was proud that it “stood on the side of the Libyan people” from the beginning and would now help them rebuild the country. As for Churkin’s criticism, Araud said: “We let the historians decide.”

Many have expressed concern over Libya’s ability to uphold the rule of law given widespread divisions following the bitter seven-month conflict, and in light of the grisly treatment of the former leader at the hands of vengeful rebels following his capture outside Sirte on Oct. 20.

Libya’s new leaders vowed Thursday to bring Gadhafi’s killers to justice in an apparent diversion from their previous insistence he was caught in the crossfire with his own loyalists. “With regards to Gadhafi, we do not wait for anybody to tell us,” Abdul-Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the ruling National Transitional Council, told a news conference in Benghazi.

“We had already launched an investigation. We have issued a code of ethics in handling of prisoners of war. There were some violations by those who are unfortunately described as revolutionaries. I am sure that was an individual act and not an act of revolutionaries or the national army,” the interim official said.
“We had issued a statement saying that any violations of human rights will be investigated by the NTC. Whoever is responsible for that [Gadhafi’s killing] will be judged and given a fair trial.”

Seemingly trying to avoid a fate similar to his father’s, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi is reportedly seeking to surrender to the International Criminal Court for trial.
Seif al-Islam has tried to arrange for an aircraft to fly him out of his desert refuge and into international custody, a Libyan official said Thursday.

Details were sketchy and confirmation not available but a picture has emerged that suggests Moammar Gadhafi’s 39-year-old heir-apparent has taken refuge among Sahara nomads and is seeking a safe haven abroad.

Even if he can still draw on some of the vast fortune the Gadhafi clan built up abroad during 42 years in control of North Africa’s main oilfields, his indictment by the ICC over his efforts to crush the revolt limits his options.

That may explain an apparent willingness, in communications monitored by intelligence services and shared with the NTC, to discuss a surrender to the ICC, whereas his mother and surviving siblings simply fled to Algeria and Niger.
The Court, which relies on signatory states to hand over suspects, said it was trying to confirm the whereabouts and intentions of Seif al-Islam and ex-intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, the third man indicted along with the elder Gadhafi.

A source with the NTC told Reuters the two survivors were together, protected by Tuareg nomads, in the rugged wilderness of the “Triangle,” close to the borders of Algeria and Niger. “Seif is concerned about his safety,” the source said. “He believes handing himself over is the best option for him.”

The younger Gadhafi, once seen as a potential liberal reformer but who adopted a belligerent, win-or-die persona at his father’s side this year, was looking for help from abroad, possibly Algeria or Tunisia, to fly out and take his chances at The Hague, where there is no death penalty.