Muammar Gaddafi’s wife and three children fled to Algeria yesterday as rebels closed in on his hometown of Sirte and said the strongman still posed a danger to Libya and the world.
Gaddafi himself and two other children – sons Saadi and Seif al-Islam – were in the town of Bani Walid, south of the capital Tripoli, Italian news agency Ansa reported, citing “authoritative Libyan diplomatic sources”.
Algiers announced that Col Gaddafi’s wife Safiya, two sons, a daughter and their children had crossed the border into Algeria.
“The wife of Muammar Gaddafi, Safiya, his daughter Aisha and sons Hannibal and Mohammed, accompanied by their children, entered Algeria at 8.45 a.m. (0745 GMT) through the Algeria-Libyan border,” the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state APS news agency, giving no information on the whereabouts of Col Gaddafi himself.
The ministry said that UN chief Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council and senior Libyan rebel leader Mahmud Jibril had been informed.
So far Algeria has not recognised the rebels’ administration and has adopted a stance of strict neutrality on the conflict in its neighbour, leading some among the rebels to accuse it of supporting the Gaddafi regime.
The rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC) immediately said they wanted the Gaddafi family members back.
“We will ask Algeria to give them back,” said Mohammed al-Allagy, who handles judicial affairs.
Italy’s Ansa news agency said that another son of Col Gaddafi, Khamis, had “almost certainly” been killed as he tried to make the 100-kilometre journey from Tripoli to Bani Walid to join his father and brothers Saadi and Seif al-Islam.
The rebels had said previously that they had captured Seif al-Islam as they overran Tripoli but that claim was holed when he surfaced in the capital and met journalists.
Rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil called for no let-up in international action against the embattled strongman.
“Gaddafi’s defiance of the coalition forces still poses a danger, not only for Libya but for the world. That is why we are calling for the coalition to continue its support,” Abdel Jalil said at a meeting in Doha of chiefs of staff of countries taking part in military action in Libya.
The international coalition launched Operation Unified Protector on March 19 under a UN mandate which authorised air strikes to protect civilians.
Since March 31, the air strikes have been carried out under Nato command.
The coalition military chiefs said in a joint statement that the war in Libya “is yet to end” and that “there is a need to continue the joint action until the Libyan people achieve their goal by eliminating the remnants of Gaddafi”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to visit Paris on Thursday for an international Contact Group meeting on Libya in a bid to boost financial and economic support for the rebels, the State Department said.
“Libya’s transition to democracy is and should be Libyan-led, with close coordination and support between the (NTC) and its international partners,” said spokesman Victoria Nuland.