ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit Monday said that “extra judicial killings should never be supported or promoted” as he denounced the manner in which the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed last week following his capture by forces loyal to the new interim government in the North African country.
“Like any civilised society we will never condone the manner in which a person is killed. We will never tolerate it, irrespective of who the person is, or what the person may have done, or alleged to have done.
“Extra judicial killings should never be supported or promoted by any civilised nation,” Skerrit said at a news conference here.
The United Nations and international human rights groups have been
calling for an independent investigation into Gaddafi’s death after members of the transitional government in Libya confirmed that Gaddafi, who had been captured alive, last Thursday, had died later of his wounds.
International media organisations said that when he was captured video footage showed Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years, dazed and wounded, but still clearly alive and gesturing with his hands as he was dragged from a pick-up truck by a crowd of angry jostling group of government soldiers who hit him and pulled his hair.
Skerrit, whose administration, like several governments in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) had enjoyed a close relationship with the Gaddafi regime, questioned whether any country would have liked “for anybody…to be killed in this manner, to be assassinated in this manner, in an extra judicial manner”.
He told reporters that if Gaddafi “may have committed crimes against people…there are courts to determine that particular fact or allegation.
“But as a Christian people, as a civilised people we cannot condone people killing each other in the manner in which Colonel Gaddafi was killed,” he said, adding “this has nothing to do with any ideological position of the government of Dominica.
“It is a principled human Christian natured position,” he said, adding that “it is our hope that the Libyan people can continue to build a very prosperous nation where everybody can partake in the benefits of that prosperity,” he told reporters.
Last week, the Grenada Prime Minister, Tillman Thomas described Gaddafi’s death as “unfortunate” saying he hoped the new leaders will ensure the survival of democracy in the North African country.
Prime Minister Thomas said he does not anticipate “any difficulty in establishing some form of contact and communication with those who are striving to build democracy and democratic institutions,” adding “I wish for the world always that man leave in peace an harmony and bring to an end all this conflict and confrontation”.
St. Lucia’s Foreign Minister Rufus Bousquet said Gaddafi will be sorely missed for his show of generosity to the Caribbean and his vision for Africa and accused the West of double standards.
“I don’t know what selfish motives he may have had somewhere at the back of his mind, but certainly in terms of using his money for investment in Africa in the development of the African world and the Caribbean, he will be missed,” Bousquet said in a radio interview.
By CMC for Antiguaobserver.com
