Libya’s new rulers yesterday stepped up the hunt for Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle, seeking the arrest of one of his sons, Saadi, and announcing the capture of his spokesman Mussa Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, Libya’s interim Prime Minister Mahmud Jibril yesterday said that he will not be a part of the new government, the formation of which has been postponed until the end of the country’s conflict.
Asked at a news conference in Tripoli about the timetable for the government’s announcement, Mr Jibril said: “I hope that soon we will free Sirte and Bani Walid to begin negotiations on the formation of the transitional government, of which I will not be a part.”
NTC yesterday also said another of Col Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, was in the deposed despot’s birthplace of Sirte, where old regime loyalists fought pitched battles with combatants loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council.
“Misurata fighters contacted us and gave us the information that Mussa Ibrahim has been captured,” said Mustafa bin Dardef, of the National Transitional Council’s Zintan Brigade.
Another commander, Mohammed al-Marimi, said: “Mussa Ibrahim was captured while driving outside Sirte by fighters from Misurata.”
He said there were reports that Ibrahim was dressed as a woman, but could not immediately confirm that.
Libya’s Al-Hurra Misrata television also said Mr Ibrahim had been caught outside Sirte and that he had been in a car and veiled, adding that it would soon broadcast footage of his capture.
Ibrahim had been the public voice of the Gaddafi regime until NTC fighters overran Tripoli on August 23.
Despite fleeing the capital along with the deposed despot, he has continued to issue statements through Syrian-based Arrai television from an unknown location, although not as frequently.
Last Friday, Mr Ibrahim had appealed for resolve against “agents and traitors,” denounced what he called “genocide” by Nato and its “Libyan agents,” and criticised the world community for “inaction.”
Global police agency Interpol said, meanwhile, the NTC had requested an arrest notice against Saadi, who is believed to be in Niger.
The Libyan authorities, it said in a statement, wanted him “for allegedly misappropriating properties through force and armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation.”
Saadi, 38, was last seen in Niger and the red notice calls particularly on countries in the region to help locate and arrest him “with a view to returning him to Libya where an arrest warrant for him has been issued,” Interpol said.
However, Niger’s Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said later yesterday that his country has no plans to send Saadi home to face justice.
“Saadi Gaddafi is in safety, in security in Niamey, in the hands of the Niger government. There’s no question of him being extradited to Libya for the moment,” Mr Rafini said in France.
“We need to be sure he will be allowed a fair defence,” he said. “Are those conditions in place today? No.” While the fugitive Gaddafi’s whereabouts remain unknown, Libya’s defence ministry spokesman Ahmed Bani said in Tripoli that his most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, was in Bani Walid and also said that Mutassim was in Sirte.
An NTC field commander in Sirte also said that Mutassim was in the Mediterranean city, which lies some 360 kilometres east of Tripoli.
“Mutassim is inside and he is commanding his forces. They are using heavy guns as well as snipers which is making it difficult for us.”
On the battlefront in Sirte, anti-Gaddafi fighters returned to the fray after being forced to retreat during ferocious fighting on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean city that had raged through the night.