But the delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour boarded a plane to leave Mauritania without Senussi after Mauritanian sources played down suggestions the deal was finalized and note that other countries had a say in the case.
“We have an assurance from Mauritania that it will extradite Abdullah Al-Senussi but there are legal procedures which must be respected and we will wait,” Libyan government spokesman Nasser Al-Manee told reporters before boarding the plane.
Libya is vying with France and the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to try Qaddafi’s former right-hand man, arrested in Mauritania on Friday as he arrived by plane in the capital Nouakchott with a false passport.
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour announced after talks with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Tuesday that Aziz had given consent to extradite Senussi, adding he would “soon be in a Libyan prison.”
But Mauritanian sources insisted the agreement was only “in principle” and that final details had yet to be clinched. “The principle of Senussi’s extradition to Libya has been agreed,” said a source close to the Mauritanian presidency.
Separately, a Mauritanian security source said the West African state, an aid-reliant former French colony, acknowledged that other countries should have a say in Senussi’s fate.
“It’s not just Mauritania and Libya that can settle this,” said the source, expressing doubt that any transfer of Senussi would take place soon. The source declined to elaborate but several international human rights groups have doubted whether Senussi, 62, would have a fair trial in Libya and say he would be better transferred to the ICC to face charges of crimes against humanity.
Aziz, an army general who seized power in 2008 and went on a year later to win elections decried by rivals as rigged, has enjoyed solid support from Paris that has helped him win international respectability and an IMF funding program. France wants Senussi in connection with a 1989 airliner bombing in which 54 of its nationals died. A second Mauritanian security source told Reuters on Tuesday France was arguing that its claim had priority over others because it had assisted in last week’s arrest of the ex-spy chief.
