International reactions to the death of Muammar Gaddafi


The international reactions to the death of Muammar Gaddafi concern the responses of foreign governments and supranational organisations to the killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at the Battle of Sirte, the last major engagement of the Libyan Civil War, on 20 October 2011.

International role in Gaddafi's downfall

The United Nations Security Council voted to authorize a Libyan no-fly zone. Two days later, the French Air Force struck an armoured division and artillery pieces arrayed outside Benghazi, the de facto capital of the interim rebel governing authority, beginning international military operations in the Libyan theatre.
NATO forces involved in Operation Unified Protector, the codename for the military intervention in Libya, participated in the Battle of Sirte in which Gaddafi was captured and killed. French and U.S. aircraft struck the convoy in which Gaddafi was traveling, leaving him wounded and forcing him to abandon his attempted flight from the besieged city. In an official statement, NATO claimed it was unaware that Gaddafi was part of the convoy.

Reactions

National representatives

Africa

Regional communities

The top officer of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Admiral James G. Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, announced that he will recommend that the alliance's Libya air campaign be brought to an end. Officials have said the alliance would likely continue its air patrols over Libya for several more days and then be gradually phased out.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement that "NATO and our partners have successfully implemented the historic mandate of the United Nations to protect the people of Libya. We will terminate our mission in co-ordination with the United Nations and the National Transitional Council. With the reported fall of Bani Walid and Sirte, that moment has now moved much closer." The North Atlantic Council, the governing body of NATO, will meet on 21 October to officially terminate the seven-month campaign.
NATO defense ministers, meeting in Brussels earlier in October, decided not to halt air operations. However, following Gaddafi's death and the NTC's taking of Sirt, the last city under Gaddafi's control, NATO is likely to officially end the campaign. And the inter-governmental military alliance is now expected to bring the campaign to an end. While only suspending airstrikes and beginning a monitoring period was considered, a NATO officer speaking to the Los Angeles Times on condition of anonymity stated that the sentiment within NATO is to end the campaign entirely, including the enforcement of the no-fly zone and the arms embargo enforced by naval ships.
The death of Gaddafi and end of the campaign was viewed as a "rare clear-cut victory" for NATO after long operations in Afghanistan and anti-piracy patrols off Somalia. According to Michael Clarke, director of the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, "NATO can say unambiguously this was a military and political success. That's why today is a good day for NATO, and NATO has not had many good days in the last several years."
NATO announced that its mission will end on 31 October 2011.

United Nations

stated that "This day marks a historic transition for Libya. In the coming days, we will witness scenes of celebration as well as grief for those who lost so much. Now is the time for all Libyans to come together. Libyans can only realise the promise of the future for national unity and reconciliation. Combatants on all sides must lay down their arms in peace. This is the time for healing and rebuilding, for generosity of spirit, not for revenge."
Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a briefing: "As you are aware, there are at least two cell-phone videos, one showing him alive and one showing him dead. Taken together, these videos are very disturbing. We believe there is a need for an investigation and more details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in the fighting or after his capture". Christof Heyns, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, called for an international investigation into Gaddafi's death, stating that his killing may have been a war crime.

Non-governmental organizations

In its immediate aftermath, the killing of Gaddafi was thought to have significant implications in North Africa and the Middle East, as a critical part of the "Arab Spring". Pundits speculated that the death would intensify protesting in Syria and Yemen, and French officials stated that because of this they were "watching the Algerian situation".