Perilous
Times
Libya: Col Gaddafi's wife and daughter 'flee Libya'
Col Muammar Gaddafi's wife and daughter have fled Libya for
Tunisia in a sign of mounting pressure on the dictator, it has
been reported.
Aisha Gaddafi, centre, is surrounded by her bodyguards in Tripoli
last month Photo: REUTERS
By Andrew Gilligan, Tripoli 9:17PM BST 18 May 2011
The Telegraph UK
Safiya Gaddafi and her daughter Aisha crossed into Tunisia "a few
days ago" with a Libyan delegation, according to Tunisian security
sources.
The pair are currently at a refugee centre on the island of
Djerba. The departure, if confirmed, would be a major blow to Col
Gaddafi's embattled regime, already rocked by the apparent
defection of the key oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, on Tuesday.
Dozens of high-ranking Gaddafi officials, including ministers and
ambassadors, have left the country or abandoned the regime since
the uprising began, including the interior minister, Abdel-Fatah
Younes al-Obeidi, Ali Abdussalam el-Treki, a former foreign
minister and a former United Nations ambassador who had worked
closely with Col Gaddafi for decades, and his former justice
minister, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, who is now the head of the rebel
Transitional National Council.
Arab newspapers claimed on Tuesday that Gaddafi’s eldest son,
Muhammed Muammar Gaddafi, had also left the country for “medical
treatment” in Tunisia, along with other officials including the
head of the customs agency and the country’s representative to the
Arab League.
Mrs Gaddafi, who is the dictator's second wife, was with her
husband in a house attacked by Allied warplanes on April 30,
killing Col Gaddafi's youngest son, Saif al-Arab.
She is from Benghazi, the centre of the three-month-old rebellion.
In leaked US Embassy cables, her relationship with her husband was
described as sometimes "fractious."
Col Gaddafi's daughter, Aisha, aged 35, was described in the
cables as mediating in family disputes. She runs a charitable
organisation in Tripoli and was appointed a UN goodwill ambassador
in 2009.
Libya's foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, denied the rumours. "They
are still in the country. They are ok," he said.