Libyan official's war crime claims

LIBYA has accused rebels of cannibalism and Nato of war crimes after denying a United Nations' report which said Col Muammar al-Gaddafi's forces were kidnapping, torturing and murdering opponents of his regime.

The claim came as the rebels were promised more than 600 million in aid by a conference of western and Arab powers meeting in Abu Dhabi.

Libyan foreign ministry official Mustafa Shaban delivered the attack and the defence of Col Gaddafi's regime at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday.

The 47-member forum held a debate on a UN investigation which concluded last week that Col Gaddafi's forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The team also found some evidence of crimes by rebel forces.

Up to 15,000 people have been killed in four months of fighting, leaving Libyans deeply scarred according to Cherif Bassiouni who led the three-member panel that visited Tripoli and rebel-held areas in late April.

However Mr Shaban said: "Cities in the hands of armed gangs suffer terrible violations of human rights and heinous crimes.

"In Misrata, Libyan and foreign gangs who were arrested confessed to cutting throats and cutting off breasts of live women and even admitted to acts of cannibalism.

"Nato is violating human rights in Libya tantamount to crimes against humanity, crimes of war and crimes of aggression."

However Britain's ambassador to the UN, Peter Gooderham, rejected his allegations.

In Abu Dhabi, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton stepped up pressure on the Libyan leader saying she was aware of talks between people close to Gaddafi that had raised the "potential" for a transition of power.

Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd told the conference Col Gaddafi's end "may come sooner than many of you in this room may think".

Nato warplanes bombed Tripoli again yesterday, hitting targets on the outskirts. At the donor conference, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said would give the rebels up to $580m in cash and fuel aid backed by frozen Libyan assets.

Kuwait said it would immediately transfer $180m to the rebels. France pledged $420 million in "preferential loans" and Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey had set up a $100m fund.

British Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt also said the UK could step up its military operations in Libya, if required.

He said: "The pressure will continue, within the constraints of the coalition forces, this will continue and intensify."

Col Gaddafi troops and the rebels have been deadlocked for weeks between the eastern towns of Ajdabiyah and Brega. Rebels also control the western city of Misrata and the western mountains bordering Tunisia.