The wife and three children of embattled erstwhile leader of Libya Muammar Gaddafi are said to have fled Algeria for safety. The Algerian Foreign Ministry said that Gaddafi’s wife Safia, his sons Hannibal and Mohammed, and his daughter Aisha entered the country across the land border. It said Algerian authorities have informed the United Nations Secretary General, the President of the United Nations Security Council, and the head of the Libyan rebels transitional leadership council.
Algeria’s acceptance of Gaddafi’s wife and offspring infuriated the leadership of the rebel forces, who want him and his entourage to face justice for years of repressive rule and who fear that he could orchestrate a new insurgency unless he is captured.
The leadership said “We have promised to provide a just trial to all those criminals and therefore we consider this an act of aggression,” spokesman Mahmoud Shamman told Reuters. “We are warning anybody not to shelter Gaddafi and his sons. We are going after them … to find them and arrest them.”
“We have heard that Algeria will harbour them till they go to another country. They are trying to go to another country, possibly an east European country,”.
Aide to rebel National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, Ahmed Jibril called on the Algerian government which has not recognised the council as Libya’s legitimate authority; to cooperate with it and hand over any of Gaddafi’s sons on its wanted list.
Gaddafi’s children played important roles in Libya as Hannibal was the head of the maritime transport company; Mohammed the national Olympic committee. Aisha, a lawyer, helped in the defense of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the trial that led to his hanging.
Algeria and Libya are likely to face strains in their diplomatic ties as the rebels who are now recognized by more than 40 nations had earlier accused Algeria of providing Gadhafi with mercenaries to repress the revolt.
Gaddafi, however remains to be found since the rebels seized the Tripoli stronghold and the rebels speaking through the NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil say they still do not know where he is, there are however strong suspicions that he may be in his hometown of Sirte, his last major stronghold in the country. So far Sirte shows no sign of surrendering, the rebels say they are however trying to negotiate a bloodless takeover.
Meanwhile some of Gaddafi’s children have been killed. Rebel military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Bani said “We have almost certain information that Khamis Gaddafi and (Gaddafi’s intelligence chief ) Abdullah al-Senussi were killed on Saturday by a unit of the national liberation army during clashes in Tarhouna (90 km southeast of Tripoli),”
