Gadhafi may be seeking refuge in friendly state
Source: Agencies |
September 7, 2011, Wednesday
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SCORES of Libyan army vehicles have crossed the desert frontier into Niger in what may be a dramatic, secretly negotiated bid by Moammar Gadhafi to seek refuge in a friendly African state, military sources from France and Niger said yesterday.
The rebels who overthrew Gadhafi two weeks ago said they also thought that about a dozen other vehicles that crossed the border were carrying gold and cash apparently looted from a branch of Libya's central bank in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.
The military sources said a convoy of between 200 and 250 vehicles was escorted to the northern city of Agadez by the army of Niger, a landlocked former French colony. It might, according to a French military source, be joined by Gadhafi en route for adjacent Burkina Faso, which has offered him asylum.
France, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Libya's new rulers and NATO, all denied knowing where Gadhafi was or of any deal to let him go abroad or find refuge from Libyans and the International Criminal Court who want to put him on trial.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said it was for Libyans to decide the venue but that Gadhafi would not be allowed to slip away quietly. "He will have to face justice for all the crimes he has committed in the past 42 years," he said.
Niger's foreign minister, Bazoum Mohamed, was quoted by Al Arabiya television as saying that Gadhafi was not in the convoy, which arrived late on Monday.
An aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: "We have no specific information that would indicate that Gadhafi is there."
But those comments did not contradict a French military source who said the 69-year-old fugitive and his son and heir Saif al-Islam might join the convoy later to head for Burkina.
France has taken a lead in the NATO action to back Libya's uprising and, with its Western allies, would be likely to have the ability to track any sizeable convoy.
But Niger's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Adani Illo, said such surveillance over thousands of miles of desert was still hard. "The desert zone is vast and the frontier is porous," he said. "If a convoy of 200 to 250 vehicles went through, it is like a drop of water in an ocean."
Gadhafi has broadcast defiance since being forced into hiding two weeks ago, and vowed to die fighting on his own soil. But he also has long friendships with the poor African states to the south, with which he shared some of Libya's oil wealth.
The sources said the convoy, probably including officers from army units based in the south of Libya, may have looped through Algeria rather than crossing the Libyan-Niger frontier directly.
Algeria last week took in Gadhafi's wife, daughter and two other sons, angering the interim council now running Libya.
Gadhafi's fugitive spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said in remarks broadcast on Monday: "Moammar Gadhafi is in excellent health and in very, very high spirits ... He is in a place that will not be reached by those fractious groups, and he is in Libya."
NATO warplanes and spy satellites have been scouring Libya's deserts for months, raising the likelihood that any convoy of the size mentioned would have been spotted. But a spokesman for the Western alliance said it was not hunting Gadhafi and had a UN mandate only to prevent his forces attacking civilians.
"Our mission is to protect the civilian population in Libya, not to track and target thousands of fleeing former regime leaders, mercenaries, military commanders and internally displaced people," Colonel Roland Lavoie said.
Tuareg nomads who inhabit the Sahara across frontiers say those fleeing Libya include many black Africans, some of whom may have been fighters for Gadhafi and most of whom fear the anger and reprisals of Gadhafi's enemies among Libya's Arabs.
The rebels who overthrew Gadhafi two weeks ago said they also thought that about a dozen other vehicles that crossed the border were carrying gold and cash apparently looted from a branch of Libya's central bank in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.
The military sources said a convoy of between 200 and 250 vehicles was escorted to the northern city of Agadez by the army of Niger, a landlocked former French colony. It might, according to a French military source, be joined by Gadhafi en route for adjacent Burkina Faso, which has offered him asylum.
France, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Libya's new rulers and NATO, all denied knowing where Gadhafi was or of any deal to let him go abroad or find refuge from Libyans and the International Criminal Court who want to put him on trial.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said it was for Libyans to decide the venue but that Gadhafi would not be allowed to slip away quietly. "He will have to face justice for all the crimes he has committed in the past 42 years," he said.
Niger's foreign minister, Bazoum Mohamed, was quoted by Al Arabiya television as saying that Gadhafi was not in the convoy, which arrived late on Monday.
An aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: "We have no specific information that would indicate that Gadhafi is there."
But those comments did not contradict a French military source who said the 69-year-old fugitive and his son and heir Saif al-Islam might join the convoy later to head for Burkina.
France has taken a lead in the NATO action to back Libya's uprising and, with its Western allies, would be likely to have the ability to track any sizeable convoy.
But Niger's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Adani Illo, said such surveillance over thousands of miles of desert was still hard. "The desert zone is vast and the frontier is porous," he said. "If a convoy of 200 to 250 vehicles went through, it is like a drop of water in an ocean."
Gadhafi has broadcast defiance since being forced into hiding two weeks ago, and vowed to die fighting on his own soil. But he also has long friendships with the poor African states to the south, with which he shared some of Libya's oil wealth.
The sources said the convoy, probably including officers from army units based in the south of Libya, may have looped through Algeria rather than crossing the Libyan-Niger frontier directly.
Algeria last week took in Gadhafi's wife, daughter and two other sons, angering the interim council now running Libya.
Gadhafi's fugitive spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said in remarks broadcast on Monday: "Moammar Gadhafi is in excellent health and in very, very high spirits ... He is in a place that will not be reached by those fractious groups, and he is in Libya."
NATO warplanes and spy satellites have been scouring Libya's deserts for months, raising the likelihood that any convoy of the size mentioned would have been spotted. But a spokesman for the Western alliance said it was not hunting Gadhafi and had a UN mandate only to prevent his forces attacking civilians.
"Our mission is to protect the civilian population in Libya, not to track and target thousands of fleeing former regime leaders, mercenaries, military commanders and internally displaced people," Colonel Roland Lavoie said.
Tuareg nomads who inhabit the Sahara across frontiers say those fleeing Libya include many black Africans, some of whom may have been fighters for Gadhafi and most of whom fear the anger and reprisals of Gadhafi's enemies among Libya's Arabs.
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