Top Gaddafi security chief in Niger as surrender talks fail

Workers bury the bodies of four fighters loyal to Col.Muammar Gaddafi at a cemetary dedicated to Kadhafi fighters in the Ganat area of Misrata, on September 5, 2011. Fighters besieging the Libyan town of Bani Walid fretted that their opponents still loyal to Muammar Gaddafi would use inhabitants as human shields as they awaited an order to attack. AFP PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Son says he has not seen his father or brother for two months

NIAMEY, Monday

Members of fugitive Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s entourage, including his internal security chief Mansour Daw, have crossed the border into Niger, a Tuareg source told AFP.

The identity of the other individuals, believed to number around ten, who arrived in the northern Niger city of Agadez escorted by a top Niger Tuareg rebel leader, was not immediately known.

The group were led into Niger by Agaly Alambo, a historical leader in Niger’s Tuareg rebellion with very close ties to Gaddafi.

“In any case, these people who came with Agaly are neither Gaddafi’s sons nor his close relatives,” the Tuareg source told AFP condition of anonymity, adding that all had now reached the capital Niamey.

Agaly Alambo, head of the Niger Movement for Justice, the country’s main Tuareg rebel group since 2007, had been living in Libya since Gaddafi brokered an end to his struggle against Niamey in 2009.

Meanwhile, negotiations for the surrender of Gaddafi‘s forces in the Libyan town of Bani Walid have failed and will not resume, an official said, opening the way for a military attack.

“I am leaving the military commander to resolve the problem,” said Abdullah Kenshil, the chief negotiator for Libya’s new government, the National Transitional Council (NTC).

The town southeast of Tripoli is one of the last strongholds of pro-Gaddafi fighters where at least one of the ousted despot’s sons is reported to be hiding.

Mr Kenshil said the fighters had wanted to come out with their weapons on Sunday but were rebuffed. “They demanded that the revolutionaries enter Bani Walid without their weapons,” he added, charging that it was a pretext for an ambush.

Mr Kenshil said Gaddafi himself, his sons and much of his family had been in Bani Walid, without specifying when. Some had left but two of Gaddafi’s sons, Saadi and Mutassim, were still believed to be there.

Negotiations began several days ago through tribal intermediaries with the hope of taking Bani Walid without bloodshed.

Saadi Gaddafi said the talks’ failure was the fault of his high-profile brother Seif al-Islam, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court along with their father for suspected crimes against humanity during the uprising.

Saadi told CNN in a telephone interview that an “aggressive” speech broadcast by his brother a few days ago had led to the breakdown of the negotiations. Asked about his location, Saadi said he was “a little bit outside” of Bani Walid but had been moving around, CNN reported late on Sunday.

He said he had not seen his father or brother for two months. Saadi said he is “neutral” but remains “ready to help negotiate a ceasefire,” CNN added.

Meanwhile NTC military spokesman Ahmed Omar Bani confirmed earlier reports of the death of another Gaddafi son — Khamis — and said that the son of the strongman’s spy master Abdullah Senussi was also killed.

“I can confirm that Khamis and Mohammed (Senussi) both of them (were) killed around Tarhuna,” he told reporters in Benghazi, referring to a town north of Bani Walid on the road from the capital. Khamis, 28, the youngest son of Gaddafi, commanded a brigade seen as the most effective and loyal force of the Libyan leader.

Rebel fighters captured its base south of Tripoli in fierce fighting last week. Bani Walid is the heartland of the powerful Warfalla tribe, which made up the core of Gaddafi’s army and was given top political positions within the regime. (AFP)