Gaddafi’s wife and children flee to Algeria

MUAMMAR GADDAFI’S wife and three of his children fled Libya to neighbouring Algeria yesterday, firm evidence that the longtime leader has lost his grip on the country.

Gaddafi’s whereabouts were still unknown and rebels are worried that if he remains in Libya, it will stoke more violence.

In Washington, the Obama administration said it has no indication Gaddafi has left the country.

Rebels also said one of Gaddafi’s other sons, elite military commander Khamis, was probably killed in battle.

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 had informed the United Nations secretary general, the president of the UN Security Council, and the head of the Libyan rebels transitional leadership council.

Ahmed Jibril, an aide to rebel National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said officials would “demand that Algerian authorities hand them over to Libya to be tried before Libyan courts.”

Gaddafi’s children played important roles in Libya’s military and economic life.

Hannibal headed the maritime transport company; Mohammed the national Olympic committee. Aisha, a lawyer, helped in the defence of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the trial that led to his hanging.

Ahmed Bani, military spokesman of the council, said he was not surprised to hear Algeria had welcomed Gaddafi relatives. Throughout the six-month Libyan uprising, rebels have accused Algeria of providing Gaddafi with mercenaries to repress the revolt.

Over the weekend, the Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, had reported that six armoured Mercedes saloons, possibly carrying Gaddafi’s sons or other top regime figures, had crossed the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria. Algeria’s Foreign Ministry had denied that report.

In other developments, the chairman of the African Union accused Libyan rebels of indiscriminately killing black people because they had confused innocent migrant workers with Gaddafi mercenaries.

Jean Ping, speaking to reporters in Ethiopia, said this was one of the reasons the AU was refusing to recognise the National Transitional Council as Libya’s interim government.

Ping charges are much stronger than any that have been levied at the rebels by international rights groups. The groups have, however, expressed concern about beatings and detentions of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. National Transitional Council spokesman Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga denied the AU claims.

Meanwhile, the father of one of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing has called for the man convicted of the atrocity to be left to die in peace.

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora, 23, said he would treat Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi himself, if he could, to allow him a dignified death. The retired GP was among a number of victims’ families to speak out following confirmation from the Scottish government that contact had been made with Megrahi’s family during the weekend.

American news channel CNN aired images of the convicted bomber,apparently near death, in his villa in the Libyan capital.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said his government had no intention of seeking Megrahi’s return.

Megrahi was convicted and imprisoned in Scotland for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people. He was granted compassionate release in 2009 because he was expected to die from prostate cancer within months. He survived and was residing in Tripoli when Gaddafi’s regime fell.