Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who once vowed to die fighting on Libyan soil, now wants to face international justice instead and avoid any chance of meeting the same grisly end as his father, Libyan officials said.

On Wednesday, Saif al-Islam, the only one of Muammar Gaddafi's eight children still on the run, had proposed surrendering to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has indicted him for crimes against humanity, NTC official said.

However, the ICC said it had no confirmation that Saif al-Islam and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi are proposing to hand themselves over to the war crimes court. "We don't have confirmation about this now. We are trying to contact the NTC for more information," ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said.

ICC Arrest warrant
In June, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif and al-Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity after the UN Security Council referred the Libyan situation to the court in February.

Surrender by 39-year-old Saif al-Islam would close another chapter in the four-decade history of Gaddafi family rule, as the United Nations discusses an end to its Libyan mandate that allowed NATO to bomb the country and help rebels to take power. He was widely seen as Muammar Gaddafi's favoured son and his heir apparent. Saif al-Islam wanted to surrender to The Hague based ICC with his relative, former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, said Abdel Majid Mlegta, an official of the NTC which overran the last Muammar Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte a week ago. "They are proposing a way to hand themselves over to The Hague," said Mlegta.

U-turn 
NTC officials said Saif al-Islam is hiding in Libya's southern desert after failing to find a safe haven in neighbouring countries, which offered refuge to the other four Gaddafi children who survived the eight-month civil war. Any surrender would mark a U-turn by Saif al-Islam, an internationally well-connected philanthropist and liberal reformer who turned abruptly into a soldier ready to die rather than capitulate when rebels rose up against his father. "We fight here in Libya; we die here in Libya," he said in an interview earlier this year. He now appears to prefer the prospect of a Dutch prison cell rather than risk falling into the hands of NTC forces.

End of UNSC Resolution
UN envoys said the Security Council planned to end U.N. authorisation this week for a no-fly zone and NATO intervention in Libya despite calls from the NTC for it to wait. The Security Council made the authorisation in March to protect Libyans from the forces that Muammar Gaddafi had deployed to suppress pro-democracy uprisings across the country. Libya's people were "looking forward to terminating the no-fly zone over Libya as well as terminating the mandate accorded by Security Council resolution 1973 to protect civilians as soon as possible", Libyan Deputy UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said. He added "the initial assessments, the date of October 31 is a logical date to terminate this mandate,".

Mandate to be extended?
The NTC has not yet made an official decision on whether to request termination of the U.N. mandate, which authorised members of NATO and other UN member states to take "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians. NATO bombing prevented Muammar Gaddafi's forces from taking the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and allowed often disorganised rebel units to eventually control the whole county.
Dabbashi said the government needed more time to assess the security situation in Libya and its ability to monitor its borders.

Western diplomats said issues the NTC had suggested it would like NATO to help with, including border security, fell outside the U.N. mandate to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone. "The job was to protect civilians and from NATO's point of view, that mission has been accomplished," a diplomat said. "There's no point in delaying termination of the mandate."

(Source: Reuters)