Gaddafi's son 'flees to Niger'

12/09/2011| IslamWeb

Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) has called for a united front against the remaining forces of Muammar Gaddafi on a day when a son of the former Libyan leader entered Niger and the leader of his external spy service was arrested.

Al Jazeera correspondent Yvonne Ndege in Agadez, Niger, was told by security sources that a convoy of eight or nine vehicles was stopped while passing through the desert that separates the two countries.

 

"The vehicles were intercepted by Niger's authorities and it was found that Gaddafi's son, Saadi Gaddafi, and other senior officials were onboard the convoy," said Ndege.

 

The report was also confirmed by Marou Adamou, Niger's government spokesman and also its minister of justice.

 

"At this moment the convoy is en route to Agadez [in northern Niger]. The convoy could arrive in Niamey [the capital] between now and tomorrow," Adamou said.

 

Saadi, 38, the third of Gaddafi's seven sons, is regarded as a playboy who gave up a football career in 2004 to join the army, where he led an elite unit.

 

Separately on Sunday, Bouzaid Dorda, the head of Gaddafi's external security organization, was arrested in Tripoli. The former prime minister is expected to be handed over to the NTC and is one of several former government officials rounded up since Tripoli fell last month.

 

'Divisions emerge'

 

Mahmoud Jibril, the deputy head of the NTC, meanwhile, told reporters in Tripoli that an interim administration would be formed within 10 days.

 

Jibril also called all of the forces fighting against Gaddafi to come "under the umbrella of the NTC".

 

Jibril added: "Negotiations with other brigades across Libya are still ongoing and they are going well. This is to legitimize the only legitimate government of Libya."

 

Reporting from Tripoli after Jabril's speech, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra described the decision to bring all the military councils under the authority of the NTC as a "turning point" but added that it could lead to divisions between the political and military branches of the new government.

 

"The military council rejects the idea of joining the NTC and they are considering this move an attack to hijack their revolution and [weaken] their authority. They say they are the ones who have been fighting Colonel Gaddafi for six months, and they are the ones who should represent the wish of the Libyan people," Ahelbarra said.

 

He continued: "Sources from the military council told Al Jazeera that they reject the move and they will now ask for Mahmoud Jibril to quit. This is quite significant; it shows that differences and divisions are beginning to emerge."

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, in 2005. He is now reported to have fled to Niger

 

Al Jazeera