ICC fears Saif may flee justice

The International Criminal Court said on Saturday that Libya's Saif al-Islam Qadhafi was in contact via intermediaries about surrendering for trial, but it also had information mercenaries were trying to spirit him to a friendly African nation.
US military and government representatives held security talks in neighbouring Niger with local officials in Agadez, which has been a way station for other Libyan fugitives, including another son of Muammar Qadhafi, Saadi. A Reuters reporter saw a US military plane at Agadez airport. A top Agadez regional official declined to say what the talks with the Americans were about, but spoke of escape plans by Saif al-Islam and former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, both wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity.
"Senussi is being extricated from Mali toward a country that is a non-signatory to the (ICC) convention. I am certain that they will both (Senussi and Saif al-Islam) be extricated by plane, one from Mali the other from Niger," said the official, who asked not to be named. He said there were at least 10 airstrips in the north of Niger near the Libyan border that could be used to whisk Saif al-Islam out of the country. However, a member of parliament from northern Mali, Ibrahim Assaleh Ag Mohamed, denied Senussi or Saif al-Islam were in his country and said they would not be accepted if they tried to enter.
The arrival of the US delegation followed remarks by Mohamed Anako, president of Agadez region, who said he would give Saif al-Islam refuge. "Libya and Niger are brother countries and cousins ... so we will welcome him in," he said. The ICC has warned Saif al-Islam, 39, apparently anxious not to be captured by Libyan interim government forces in whose hands his father Muammar Qadhafi was killed last week, that it could order a mid-air interception if he tried to flee by plane from his Sahara desert hideout for a safe haven.
The ICC's comments offered some corroboration of reports from Tripoli's National Transitional Council (NTC) leaders and African neighbours that he has taken refuge with Tuareg nomads in the borderlands between Libya and Niger. "There are some people connected with him that are in touch with people connected with us ... it's through intermediaries," ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Beijing.
Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC was not making any deal with Saif al-Islam but was explaining through the contacts that he had to face trial because he had been indicted for war crimes. "He says he is innocent," said the prosecutor. However, surrender is only one option for Saif al-Islam. A South African newspaper, in an unconfirmed report, said South African mercenaries were working to fly him out.