Gaddafi's Family Flees to Algeria; Strongman's Whereabouts Uncertain
On Monday, the Algerian foreign ministry confirmed that members of Muammar al-Gaddafi’s family have managed to flee Libya into neighboring Algeria.
Gaddafi’s wife Safia, daughter Aisha, and sons Mohammed and Hannibal have all managed to flee Libya and arrived on Algerian soil Monday morning at 8:45 a.m.
Reuters has reported that Libyan rebels find the sheltering of Gaddafi family members an act of “aggression” and argue that they will seek the extradition of Gaddafi’s family members from the neighboring nation.
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A spokesperson for the National Transition Council also warned Algeria and other Gaddafi allies saying, “We are warning anybody not to shelter Gaddafi and his sons. We are going after them in any place to find them and arrest them.”
Thus far, it remains to be seen where Gaddafi himself is. The former strongman remains at large and, after last week’s battle for Tripoli, he only emerged once with an audio message calling upon his loyalists to remove the “devils and traitors” from the Libyan capital.
Experts had reason to believe Gaddafi was in his compound, but after the rebels managed to overrun the Tripoli complex and found no trace of the arguably soon-to-be former leader, it remains uncertain just where he might be hiding.
However, Gaddafi's family is likely to find refuge in Algeria, as the country does not recognize the Libyan rebel’s leadership even though other countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have all recognized the rebel-run National Transitional Council (TNC) as the sole legitimate power in the country.
The TNC has called for Gaddafi, if found, to be tried and brought to justice in Libya. Questioned about Gaddafi's whereabouts, Mohammed al-Alagi, justice minister of the TNC, said, “We don’t comment on security issues, or where he might be.” Alagi has stated that the rebels want to see Gaddafi brought to justice on Libyan soil.
