Gadhafi heading to south border, official says

BENGHAZI, Libya/AGADEZ, Niger — Moammar Gadhafi was last tracked heading for Libya's southern border, the man leading the hunt for the deposed leader told Reuters.

The news came after French and Niger military sources said scores of vehicles carrying pro-Gadhafi forces had crossed into Niger.

Hisham Buhagiar, who is coordinating efforts to find Gadhafi, said reports indicated the ousted Libyan leader may have been in the region of the southern village of Ghwat, some 186 miles north of the border with Niger, three days ago.

"He's out of Bani Walid I think. The last tracks, he was in the Ghwat area. People saw the cars going in that direction ... We have it from many sources that he's trying to go further south, toward Chad or Niger," Buhagiar said in an interview Tuesday.

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French and Niger military sources said earlier that a convoy of up to 250 vehicles was escorted to the northern city of Agadez by the army of Niger, a poor and landlocked former French colony.

It might, said a French military source, be joined by Gadhafi en route to adjacent Burkina Faso, which has offered him asylum.

Story: Gadhafi 'on the run,' US defense chief reports

The United States said it believed the convoy was carrying senior members of Gadhafi's entourage and urged Niger to detain anyone liable for prosecution for alleged crimes committed during the uprising against the deposed Libyan leader.

Shashank Joshi, a doctoral student of international relations at Harvard University and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in the U.K., listed possible outcomes in a phone interview with msnbc.com.

"If (Gadhafi) goes to Burkina Faso that would be wonderful, that would neutralize everything … but if he's tried in Libya in a humane process (it) would be the best of all … Second would be, if he’s captured and killed, it would provide a moment of catharsis," he said.

Joshi said perhaps the worst possible scenarios were if Gadhafi was able to use northern Niger as a base of operations or stayed on the loose in Libya.

Regardless of what Gadhafi does, the NTC needs to start acting like a government, Joshi said.  "What is critical is getting the machinery of government moving again," he added.

In Niger's capital, Niamey, Massoudou Hassoumi, a spokesman for Niger's president, said that Gadhafi's security chief had crossed the desert into Niger on Monday accompanied by a major Tuareg rebel.

The government of Niger dispatched a military convoy to escort Mansour Dao, the former commander of Libya's Revolutionary Guards who is a cousin of Gadhafi as well as a member of his inner circle, to Niamey.

Dao is the only senior Libyan figure to have crossed into Niger, said Hassoumi, who denied reports that Gadhafi or any member of his immediate family were in the convoy.

Hassoumi said the group of nine people also included several pro-Gadhafi businessmen, as well as Agaly ag Alambo, a Tuareg rebel leader from Niger who led a failed uprising in the country's north before crossing into Libya, where he was believed to be fighting for Gadhafi.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that Gadhafi was "on the run" and was asked later on the Charlie Rose show if he thought Gadhafi was still in Libya.

"You know, I don't know. I think he's been taking a lot of steps to make sure that in the end he could try to get out if he had to, but as to where, when, and how that'll take place, we just don't know," he said.

Gadhafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said he had not left the country.

"He is in Libya. He is safe, he is very healthy, in high morale," he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Looted gold, cash
Anti-Gadhafi forces that overthrew the long-serving ruler two weeks ago said they also thought about a dozen other vehicles that crossed the border may have carried gold and cash apparently looted from a branch of Libya's central bank in Gadhafi's home town.

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 (ICC), which wants to put him on trial for war crimes.

"To my knowledge, there have not been hundreds of vehicles that crossed into Niger," Niger's Interior Minister Abdou Labo told a news conference.

Video: Convoy of Gadhafi loyalists flee Libya (on this page)

He did confirm reports that Dao had been allowed to enter the country. He said this was on humanitarian grounds and that Dao was the only Libyan official received.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said it was for Libyans to decide the venue for any trial, but that Gadhafi must not slip away quietly. "He will have to face justice for all the crimes he has committed in the past 42 years," he said.

The U.S. State Department urged Niger to arrest any Gadhafi officials entering the country.

A French military source said the 69-year-old Gadhafi and his son Seif al-Islam might join the convoy later to head for Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso dismissed this, saying the former Libyan ruler had not requested exile and that there was no sign he was making his way to the West African state.

"We are not aware of his presence in Burkina...but if he arrives at our border we have our procedures," Burkina Faso Communication Minister Alain Edouard Traore told Reuters Television.

Video: Libyan rebels wary of attacking (on this page)

Burkina Faso, once a French colony and a recipient of large amounts of Libyan aid, offered Gadhafi sanctuary last month but has also recognized the NTC as Libya's government.

President Blaise Compaore, like Gadhafi, took power in a military coup and has run the country for 24 years.

Scouring the desert
NATO warplanes and spy satellites have been scouring Libya's deserts for months, raising the likelihood that any large convoy would have been spotted. But a spokesman for the Western alliance said it was not hunting Gadhafi and his cronies.

"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 in a statement.

Niger's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Adani Illo, told Reuters that surveillance over thousands of miles of desert was tough.

"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 defiant messages since he was forced into hiding two weeks ago, and has vowed to die fighting on his own soil. But he also has long friendships with his poor African neighbors, 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 cross the Libya-Niger frontier. Algeria last week took in Gadhafi's wife, daughter and two other sons, angering the interim council now ruling Libya.

NTC officials said Seif al-Islam may have escaped south into the desert, toward the southern, pro-Gadhafi bastion of Sabha and perhaps on to Niger. Tracking him would be hard; 800 miles of sand separate Sabha from Agadez, with a further 466 miles of road to travel to Niamey.

Reuters, msnbc.com's Brinley Bruton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Gadhafi 'on the run'; loyalists flee Libya

TRIPOLI/AGADEZ, Niger  — Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi is on the run, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday, adding however that he didn't know the ousted leader's location.

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"I wish I knew,'' Panetta said when asked about Gadhafi's whereabouts. "I don't have any information as to exactly where he's located ... the best information we have is that he's on the run.''

The Pentagon has said previously it had no reason to believe Gadhafi had left Libya. Asked whether that assessment had changed, Panetta said only: "I don't have any information as to his location.''

A senior military official in Libya's new leadership said Gadhafi probably has left Bani Walid and is heading further south with the help of loyalist tribes toward Chad or Niger.

Their speculation came after forces loyal to Gadhafi crossed in several armed convoys from Libya into neighboring Niger.

The toppled Libyan leader's own security chief was at the head of one of the columns, officials said Tuesday.

Late Tuesday, spokesman for the president of Niger debunked media reports that the convoy was comprised of over 200 military vehicles, saying only three cars had crossed ferrying one senior member of Gadhafi's entourage.

Massoudou Hassoumi, chief of staff of President Mahamadou Issoufou, told The Associated Press that his government had dispatched a convoy of its own military vehicles to accompany Gadhafi's security chief, Mansour Dao. 

Story: Should US fear Islamists among Libyan rebels?

Dao crossed the border on Monday and was escorted to Niger's capital, Niamey, where Hassoumi said he is being housed in a villa under surveillance.

Earlier, customs official Harouna Ide told The Associated Press that Dao headed the first convoy as it arrived in Niamey.

He said other Libyan convoys were south of Agadez in central Niger, a desert country bordering Libya and where Gadhafi has the support of many Tuareg tribal fighters.

It wasn't clear if Gadhafi family members were in the convoys, but al-Arabiya television quoted Niger's Foreign Minister Bazoum Mohamed as saying Gadhafi himself was not present.

The customs official said there were a dozen vehicles in Dao's convoy, and that among passengers were about 12 Gadhafi officials, Niger's Tuareg rebel leader Rissa ag Boula and other Tuaregs from Niger who had gone to Libya to fight for Gadhafi.

Abdoulaye Harouna, owner of the Agadez Info newspaper, said he saw one of the groups arrive in his town Monday in several dozen pickup trucks.

Story: Libyan spy files detail Gadhafi regime's collapse

He said they headed for Niamey, a drive of some 600 miles. The capital is in Niger's southwestern corner near the nation of Burkina Faso, where Gadhafi has been offered asylum.

Harouna said he saw Boula in the convoy. Boula is a native of Niger who led a failed war of independence on behalf of ethnic Tuareg nomads a decade ago before seeking refuge in Libya.

Convoy carrying gold, cash
Officials from Libya's interim ruling National Transitional Council said Tuesday that one convoy was carrying gold and cash.

"Late last night, 10 vehicles carrying gold, euros and dollars crossed from Jufra into Niger with the help of Tuaregs from the Niger tribe," Fathis Baja, head of the NTC committee for political and international affairs, told Reuters.

NTC spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga said it was carrying money taken from a branch of the Central Bank of Libya in Gadhafi's birthplace Sirte, one of the few towns still in his supporters' hands.

Slideshow: A quiet day amid rebellion in Libya (on this page)

The government of Burkina Faso said late last month they would recognize the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council. Foreign minister Djibril Bassolet also said the landlocked West African nation would welcome Gadhafi "if he wishes it."

A top security official in Burkina Faso said government officials had not been advised about any convoy headed for Burkina Faso. The official asked not to be named because he's not authorized to speak to journalists.

Both Niger and Burkina Faso are signatories to the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for the Libyan leader, his son and the country's intelligence chief. But both nations also belong to the African Union, which during a July summit called on member countries to disregard the warrant.

Story: Chinese firms reportedly offered arms to Gadhafi forces

Western officials said they did not have any information on the convoy. Harouna says the pro-Gadhafi troops accompanying Boula were well-armed.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said the ministry did not know who was in the vehicles.

"We have no more information than you do," he told a reporter. "We are monitoring the movement of these vehicles, and we will see."

Gadhafi financed Tuareg revolt?
Gadhafi's regime is believed to have financed the Tuareg rebellion in the north of Niger. African nations where Tuaregs represent a significant slice of the population, like Niger, have been among the last to recognize the rebels that ousted Gadhafi.

Gadhafi remains especially popular in towns like Agadez, a Sahara Desert market town where a majority of the population is Tuareg. There, the ex-ruler is remembered for his largesse and for his assistance to the Tuareg minority during their fight for autonomy.

Video: Libyan rebels wary of attacking (on this page)

Harouna said the pro-Gadhafi soldiers accompanying Boula were coming from the direction of Arlit.

The desert that stretches north of Arlit borders both Libya and Algeria. Some members of Gadhafi's family, including his wife, his daughter and two of his sons, recently sought refuge in Algeria.

Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for more than 40 years, has been on the run since losing control of his capital, Tripoli, last month.

The rebels say at least two of his sons had been in the town of Bani Walid, one of the last remaining pro-Gadhafi strongholds, in recent days. Moussa Ibrahim, Gadhafi's spokesman and one of his key aides, was still believed to be in the town, rebel officials said.

Thousands of rebel fighters have surrounded the town as their leaders tried to negotiate a surrender deal.

Most of Libya has welcomed the uprising that swept Gadhafi from power, though rebel forces backed by NATO airstrikes have yet to capture loyalist bastions like Bani Walid, Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte and the isolated southern town of Sabha.

The rebels have extended to Saturday a deadline for the surrender of Sirte and other loyalist areas, though some rebel officials have said they could attack Bani Walid sooner because it has so many prominent loyalists.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Reports: China firms offered arms to Gadhafi

TRIPOLI — Chinese arms firms offered to sell weapons worth about $200 million to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's beleaguered forces in July, two newspapers reported, compounding pressure on Beijing's brittle ties with the rebels who have ousted him.

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Rebel forces control most of the oil-rich North African nation and are already setting up a new government, but Gadhafi and his staunchest allies remain on the run and enjoy support in several central and southern areas, including the desert town of Bani Walid and the fugitive leader's hometown of Sirte.

Forces of the National Transition Council (NTC) were poised for an assault on Bani Walid after negotiators failed to persuade Gadhafi loyalists to abandon the town.

Many have speculated that Gadhafi is hiding somewhere around Sirte, Bani Walid or the loyalist town of Sabha, deep in the Libyan desert. He and his son Seif al-Islam have tried to rally supporters in defiant audio recordings broadcast on the Syrian-based Al-Rai television station but no concrete information about their whereabouts has emerged.

Sense of normality in capital
In Tripoli, life has started returning to normal after last month's fighting and a Muslim holiday last week. Traffic has become heavy as fuel supplies improved. Cafes are busy and offices have begun opening.

Officials with the NTC have announced plans to bring their heavily armed fighters under control and try to integrate thousands of them into the police force and find jobs for others.

Officials said there would also be retraining and reintegration schemes for those who fought for Gadhafi.

The disintegration of Gadhafi's rule after a six-month war has left a security vacuum in Libya, with no state security forces. There are also large numbers former rebel fighters who are not part of any formal structure, and huge quantities of unsecured weapons.

Story: Foreigners complain of harassment by Libya rebels

Chinese link to Libyan arms sales?
Following an earlier report in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, the New York Times reported Monday that documents found abandoned in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, indicated that Chinese companies offered to sell rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and other arms to Gadhafi's forces, despite bans on such sales.

"We have hard evidence of deals going on between China and Gadhafi, and we have all the documents to prove it," a rebel military spokesman, Abdulrahman Busin, told the Times.

But some officials told the Times that they were skeptical or uncertain.

A "senior NATO diplomat in Brussels discounted the report as highly unlikely," and members of a United Nations overseeing sanctions on Libya said "nothing about arms dealings with China had been brought to their attention," said the Times report.

China's Foreign Ministry said that members of Gadhafi's government had come to China and held talks with a "handful" of Chinese arms companies without the knowledge of the government.

"After the passing of resolution 1970 by the Security Council, we notified relevant government departments to strictly implement it," ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Video: Shifting political sands in Libya (on this page)

"The Chinese companies did not sign arms trade contacts and nor did they export military items to Libya," Jiang said. "I believe that the agencies in charge of the arms trade will certainly treat this seriously."

Even if the arms were not delivered, or the cited documents turn out to have no foundation, the controversy could intensify mistrust between Beijing and the rebels seeking to defeat Gadhafi's shrinking forces and claim control of all Libya.

Story: Libya rebels: Talks over Bani Walid have failed

Report: Western agencies colluded with Gadhafi
On Monday, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported that documents found in Tripoli since the rebels seized the city indicate that Gadhafi's security services collaborated with Western intelligence agencies in mounting "rendition" operations against terrorism suspects.

The Guardian report said that a CIA document discovered in an abandoned office building showed that British intelligence services worked with the Libyans to arrange for a terrorism suspect and his family to be taken from Hong Kong to Tripoli despite the possibility he would be tortured in Libya.

The newspaper reported that other documents found in the building suggested a closer working relationship between Western intelligence agencies and Gadhafi's regime than had been previously disclosed. Britain’s MI6, the Guardian said, was involved "in a number" of American-led operations that ended with Islamists sent to Gadhafi's prisons.

The documents were discovered by New York-based Human Rights Watch, the Guardian said.

Signs of division
After chasing out Gadhafi from his Tripoli compound last month, Libya's new rulers are trying to control the entire country and restore normality.

But in an early sign of divisions, Ismail al-Salabi, a Libyan Islamist military commander who fought Gadhafi's forces called on the interim cabinet to resign because they were "remnants of the old regime."

A spokesman for Gadhafi, who has been in hiding since his foes seized Tripoli on Aug. 23, has dismissed talk of surrender and said powerful tribal leaders were still loyal to him.

"He's in the country," Moussa Ibrahim told Reuters Friday in a call from an undisclosed location. "He's in a safe place surrounded by many people who are prepared to protect him.

Tribal elders from Bani Walid had come out to negotiate after NTC spokesmen said several times over the previous day that talks were over and they were about to attack.

There has been speculation from NTC officials that members of Gadhafi's family, perhaps even the former Libyan leader himself, may be hiding there.

No comment was available from the other side.

NATO, meanwhile, reported bombing a military barracks, a police camp and several other targets near the coastal stronghold of Sirte overnight, as well as targets near Hun, a possible staging ground in the desert halfway between Sirte and Sabha, in the south. It also reported bombing an ammunition storage facility near Bani Walid.

NATO has been bombing Gadhafi's forces since March under a United Nations mandate to protect Libyan civilians. But that mandate expires on Sept. 27, and the rebels may be anxious to end the fight before it runs out — since it may be politically difficult to get it renewed.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Libyan spy files detail Gadhafi regime's collapse

TRIPOLI, Libya — As the uprising grew against Moammar Gadhafi, secret reports from his vaunted intelligence service flowed back to Tripoli. Some were mundane — how agents erased anti-regime graffiti. Others were more deadly — a spy volunteered to poison rebel leaders' food and drink.

The reports grew more desperate as the Libyan rebellion veered into civil war: Military leaders in the western mountains were disregarding orders; troops in the city of Misrata ran out of ammunition, turning the situation into "every man for himself."

These reports and hundreds of other intelligence documents seen by The Associated Press in Tripoli trace how the tide shifted in the six-month uprising that ended Gadhafi's 42-year reign. They show how an authoritarian regime using all its means failed to quash an armed rebellion largely fueled by hatred of its tools of control.

Story: UK: Inquiry to probe intelligence ties to Libya

The Arab-language documents read and photographed by an AP reporter during a visit to Tripoli's intelligence headquarters contain a mixture of military data and regime propaganda. Amid reports on rebels' movements, phone tap records and dispatches from Gadhafi's domestic agents are memos claiming that al-Qaida was behind the rebellion and that 4,000 U.S. troops were about to invade from Egypt.

The uprising began in mid-February when security forces used deadly fire to suppress anti-government protests in the eastern city of Benghazi. The opposition responded to the fierce crackdown by taking up arms, quickly seizing a large swath of eastern Libya and establishing a temporary administration.

The conflict changed to civil war as rebel forces grew, expelling government forces from of the western city of Misrata and seizing much of the western Nafusa mountain range. It was from there that they pushed to the coast, then stormed into the capital on Aug. 21, effectively ending Gadhafi's rule.

Throughout the war, Gadhafi's security offices in Tripoli directed efforts to quash the rebellion. Among those leading the charge was intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi, whose well-fortified compound received reports from around the country.

Early on, his office struggled to understand the situation in Benghazi, birthplace of the rebels' National Transitional Council.

One of the handwritten intelligence reports, written by a man who said he had "infiltrated" the rebel council, gave the names of five members, their background and the hotels they frequented. None of the material would be unfamiliar to a Benghazi resident.

The note concluded with an offer to kill the council members.

"I can carry out any suicide operation I'm given to assassinate members of the council or poison their food and water," it read.

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The author is not identified. No council members have been killed by Gadhafi's regime.

Another report parroted stories spread by Libyan state media that the rebels were linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group, that they lacked local support, and that they carried Viagra and condoms into battle so they could rape women.

The regime took these claims to the international community, especially after NATO began bombing Libyan military targets under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

One document discovered was a draft letter from Gadhafi to President Barack Obama.

"It is necessary to support Libya to get rid of the armed men of al-Qaida before all of north Africa falls into the hands of bin Laden," it said. It is unclear if the letter was ever sent.

The documents refer to the rebels as "insurgents," "saboteurs" "armed gangs" and "rats."

Reports from across Libya detail the government's actions to erase opposition symbols, such as replacing rebel flags with the green banners of the Gadhafi regime or painting over rebel graffiti.

Story: Chinese firms reportedly offered arms to Gadhafi forces

Phone taps were common and sometimes detailed rebel capabilities and movements. One paper cited 30 calls intercepted in one week. Other records contained GPS coordinates of the callers.

The reports also showed how the regime was quick to believe its own disinformation. In one conversation log, an Egyptian man said 4,000 U.S. troops were in Cairo, waiting to enter Libya by land.

"Four thousand, some of them commandos," the Egyptian said. "It's unbelievable."

There were signs of paranoia. In one log, a man with a Gulf Arab accent advised that Gadhafi, his sons and associates "use their cellphone for no more than three minutes," out of fear that they, too, were being intercepted.

In April and May, bleak reports flowed back from the front lines. A report marked "secret" on the situation in the Nafusa mountains laid out a new military strategy while blasting commanders for failing to follow instructions.

"Not paying attention to them in the past did not succeed in ending the actions of armed gangs," it said. "Instead, they have grown stronger (in weapons and numbers)."

Another report detailed information about rebel bases and tactics, but added that government troops were hindered by "their ignorance of the landscape there."

Bad news also came from Misrata, where rebels pushed government troops from the city in late April after weeks of fierce street battles that killed hundreds of people.

A May 5 report depicted chaos in the ranks, saying soldiers often ran out of ammunition before reaching the battlefield, leading many to be killed or captured.

"The rest fled randomly in all directions," the report said, citing the "lack of leaders for members of the armed forces on site (every man for himself)."

Later reports suggested threats inside Tripoli from regime opponents. One envelope contained two handwritten letters, threatening to kill security forces.

"We will take mercy on no one, regardless of his position, and will kill anyone manning a checkpoint," one read. Next to a hand-drawn rebel flag, red ink declared, "You have been warned."

Others suggested a security collapse in the capital as rebel forces moved closer.

One letter from the Investigation and Surveillance Office pleaded with al-Senoussi to intervene at the station, which "has become an office of alcohol, prostitution and theft of property of those arrested."

In the next four pages, the officer accused his boss of getting drunk on the job, stealing money from prisoners and seizing cars to give to his guards, sons and favorite prostitutes.

He said his superior drugged an Egyptian woman and tried to rape her before an aide intervened, and later "sentenced" three of his officers to death.

"This order caused some confusion among those in the office," he noted.

NATO bombed many of Gadhafi's security offices, and rebels stormed the rest after seizing the capital last month.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam, and al-Senoussi, accusing them of killing civilians to try to crush the uprising. All three remain at large.

A ragged band of mountain rebels now handles security at al-Senoussi's compound, parking their truck under the intelligence services' motto: "The weapons are in the people's hands."

Inside, the fighters lounge in chairs and casually flip through the hundreds of documents strewn on the floor.

Among them is an order from al-Senoussi that wasn't carried out before he fled.

"In the crucial last moments, get rid of the contents of the administration and its secret documents by burning or destroying them," it said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Gadhafi son vows fight to the death

TRIPOLI — A man claiming to be Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam vowed Wedneday to fight to the death and said nobody will surrender. He also said he was speaking from the suburbs outside Tripoli and insisted his father is fine.

"We must wage a campaign of attrition day and night until these lands are cleansed from these gangs and traitors," he said in a statement broadcast on the Syrian-owned Arrai satellite TV channel. "We assure people that we are standing fast and the commander is in good condition."

The broadcast came shortly after another statement by his brother, al-Saadi. Al-Saadi offered a softer tone, saying he's ready to mediate talks with the rebels in order to stop the bloodshed.

Al-Saadi said he had contacted a commander of the Libyan National Transitional Council in Tripoli with authorization from his father as part of efforts to stop the bloodshed in Libya, Al-Arabiya TV reported.

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"We were talking about negotiations based on ending bloodshed,'' al-Saadi Gadhafi said referring to his telephone call with Abdel Hakim Belhadj, the chief of anti-Gadhafi forces in Tripoli, adding he was officially empowered to negotiate with the NTC.

"We acknowledge that they (the NTC) represent a legal party, but we are also the government and a legal negotiating party,'' he said.

The rebels, meanwhile, were pooling tips about Gadhafi's whereabouts from captured regime fighters and others, and believe he is most likely no longer in Tripoli, said Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the rebels' military chief in the capital.

Rebel forces have been advancing toward three regime strongholds: the town of Sirte, Gadhafi's hometown, as well as the towns of Bani Walid and Sabha, the latter hundreds of miles south of the capital of Tripoli.

Rebel forces arrested Gadhafi's foreign minister, Abdelati Obeidi, at his farm in Janzour, a suburb west of Tripoli, a Reuters correspondent reported.

Earlier Wednesday, Libyans delighted at Gadhafi's downfall celebrated the end of Ramadan feast, even though the ousted leader remains on the run and forces loyal to him are defying an ultimatum set by Libya's interim council.

Streaming before dawn, worshippers packed Tripoli's Martyrs' Square — the renamed Gadhafi-era Green Square — chanting "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), Libya is free."

Fighters on rooftops guarded against any attack by Gadhafi loyalists and sniffer dogs checked cars. Even the interim interior minister, Ahmed Darat, was searched.

In festive mood, parents took photos of their children wearing new clothes for the Eid al-Fitr holiday that follows the Muslim Ramadan fasting month. Some waved flags of the Libyan monarchy that Gadhafi overthrew in a military coup 42 years ago.

"This is the most beautiful Eid and most beautiful day in 42 years," said Hatem Gureish, 31, a merchant from Tripoli. "Gadhafi made us hate our lives ... We come here to express our joy at the end of 42 years of repression and deprivation."

Secret files
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera English reported that files uncovered in Gadhafi’s intelligence headquarters suggest that a former official under President George W. Bush may have been trying to help Gadhafi weather the revolution.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal wrote that he visited the compound that houses Libya’s now-vacated intelligence headquarters and smuggled out some documents he came across.

Among them were what appeared to be minutes of an Aug. 2 meeting between David Welch, the former assistant secretary of state Bush, and two senior Libyan officials, Abubakr Alzleitny and Mohammed Ahmed Ismail, at a hotel in Cairo, according to Al-Jazeera.

Welch now works for Bechtel, a multinational American company with billion-dollar construction deals across the Middle East, Al Jazeera reported.

The document indicates that during the meeting, Welch advised Gadhafi's team on how to undermine Libya’s rebel movement and win the propaganda war, according to Al Jazeera.

"Any information related to al-Qaida or other terrorist extremist organizations should be found and given to the American administration but only via the intelligence agencies of either Israel, Egypt, Morocco, or Jordan… America will listen to them… It's better to receive this information as if it originated from those countries..." the document says, according to Al Jazeera.

The document also indicates that Welch advised Gadhafi's government to take advantage of the unrest in Syria: "The importance of taking advantage of the Syrian situation particularly regarding the double-standard policy adopted by Washington… the Syrians were never your friends and you would lose nothing from exploiting the situation there in order to embarrass the West."

According to the document, Welch promised to “convey everything to the American administration, the congress and other influential figures."

Al Jazeera said representatives of Welch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

'It's as if I own the world'
Back on the streets of Tripoli, Fatima Mustafa, 28, a pregnant woman wearing a black chador, said: "This is a day of freedom, a day I cannot describe to you. It's as if I own the world. I'm glad I haven't given birth yet so my daughter can be born into a free Libya."

But the war is not over yet, with Gadhafi on the run and his loyalists defying an ultimatum set by Libya's National Transitional Council to surrender by Saturday or face attack.

Story: Tripoli divided as rebels jostle over power

The NTC has laid out a plan that will lead to democratic elections, monitored by the United Nations, within 18 months.

It will start with a "declaration of liberation," though NTC chairman Abdel Mustafa Jalil told reporters that the conditions for making such a declaration included Gadhafi's capture or death.

The general provisions of a "Constitutional Declaration" that has been made include:

Libya is a democratic, independent state with Tripoli its capital, Islam its religion, sharia, Islamic law as the main source of legislation and Arabic as its official language. The rights of minority groups and all sections of society are guaranteed. The state will establish a democratic political system based on political and party pluralism aiming for a peaceful, democratic transition of power. All Libyans are equal before the law and are not discriminated against because of religion, faith, language, wealth, gender, ancestry, political views, social status or tribal, group or family affiliation. The state guarantees freedom of opinion and expression, as well as freedom of the press and peaceful protests. The state guarantees the right to form political parties, societies and civil society organizations. The formation of secret or armed societies, or societies that do not comply with public order shall not be permitted.

"Our goal is to implement justice for everybody, including Gadhafi loyalists," Darat, the interior minister, said.

During the interim period, the NTC, made up of representatives of local councils who are chosen to reflect population density, will be the highest authority, the Constitutional Declaration says.

After "declaring liberation", the NTC will move to its headquarters in Tripoli and form a transitional government within 30 days.

Within 90 days of declaring liberation, the NTC will issue legislation for the election of a Public National Conference.

Story: Report: Gadhafi forces perched children on tanks to deter NATO attacks

Under the plan, the PNC will be elected within 240 days of the declaration of liberation and the NTC will be dissolved at the first meeting of the PNC.

A prime minister will then be appointed and the premier will nominate his government. The PNC will then approve a draft constitution and will put that to a referendum within 30 days.

If it is approved by a two-thirds majority, it will be ratified by the PNC. If it is rejected, it will be redrafted and another referendum will be held.

General elections will then be held "under the supervision of the national judiciary and to be monitored by the U.N. as well as international and regional organizations," according to the plan.

The newly elected legislature will then convene within 30 days. At its first meeting, the PNC will be dissolved and the new legislature will assume its duties.

"They (the NTC) are very seriously interested in assistance with policing to get the public security situation under control and gradually develop a democratically accountable public security force," Ian Martin, special U.N. envoy for post-conflict planning in Libya, said at the United Nations in New York.

"We don't now expect military observers to be requested," he said. "It's very clear that the Libyans want to avoid any kind of military deployment of the U.N. or others."

Uneasy truce with Gadhafi loyalists
However, the prospect of a peaceful, democratic Libya in 2012 or 2013 seemed a distant one Tuesday, as NATO planes bombed Gadhafi forces in his home town of Sirte and hit targets in the Bani Walid area, another Gadhafi stronghold 100 miles southeast of Tripoli.

Fighters pushing from east and west toward Sirte have paused, observing an effective truce. Anti-Gadhafi fighters have advanced to within 20 miles of Bani Walid.

Video: Inside the lavish HQ of Gadhafi’s daughter (on this page)

European Union sanctions against six Libyan ports, four oil companies and more than a dozen other entities could be lifted as soon as Friday, EU diplomats in Brussels said.

The EU's 27 governments reached a preliminary agreement on Wednesday to ease the restrictions on 28 Libyan entities and a final agreement was expected Thursday, diplomats said.

"The decision is to enter into force Friday," one EU diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In Martyrs' Square, people were mostly ebullient about the future, despite the loss of life and shortages of fuel, power and water.

"We mourn the dead. Thank God we got rid of the despot after 42 years," said Hatem Saleh, in his 20s. "We thank God we're liberated now, we're free. The tyrant is out, no more killing."

But some were fearful.

Nouri Hussein, 42, an engineer, said he was glad Gadhafi was gone, but feared the guns in the hands of unruly fighters.

"There is apprehension about what next. The rebels should not be blinded with the ecstasy of victory," he said.

Gadhafi son to surrender?
The commander, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, said al-Saadi first called him Tuesday and asked whether his safety could be guaranteed. "We told him 'Don't fear for your life. We will guarantee your rights as a human being, and will deal with you humanely,' said Belhaj, confirming a report on Al-Jazeera television. Belhaj added that al-Saadi would be turned over to Libyan legal authorities after his surrender.

If the offer is confirmed — the rebels have previously claimed to have captured Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, who later turned up free — the surrender would give the rebels a significant boost as they try to consolidate their hold over the country with the longtime dictator and several sons and aides still at large.

Belhaj said Al-Saadi told him he had not killed anyone, and that "he was not against the people."

"I told him 'This is good. What is important for us is not to shed Libyan blood. For the members of the regime to surrender is the best way to do this,'" said Belhaj.

The commander said al-Saadi had called back Wednesday morning, but that he had missed the call. He said he knows al-Saadi's whereabouts, but prefers to negotiate a surrender. He gave no further details.

Reuters, msbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

© 2011 msnbc.com

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Gadhafi news summarized in animated video

There's plenty of uncertainty regarding the location and condition of Col. Moammar Gadhafi right now, but the information that is available has been summarized in a clever animated video.

Ah yes. Who needs to read long news reports when you can get caught up on an entire situation in a minute?

The video is brought to us by Taiwan's New Media Animation news crew — the folks who provided us with animated explainers of the WikiLeaks mess and the Charlie Sheen scandal — and as expected, it's a lighthearted take on a serious story:

No, we don't understand why cooking pots are being used in lieu of helmets either.

Related stories:

Rosa Golijan writes about tech here and there. She's obsessed with Twitter and loves to be liked on Facebook. Oh, and she can be found on Google+, too.

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Western line softens on Gadhafi staying in Libya

TRIPOLI — A U.N envoy trying to find a way to end Libya's war made little visible headway on a visit to Tripoli for talks with the prime minister Tuesday.

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The government told him NATO must end air strikes before any talks can begin and that Moammar Gadhafi's role as leader was non-negotiable, though rebels and the West insist he step down.

Britain and France, carrying out most of the NATO bombing attacks, dropped their insistence that Gadhafi leave the country as part of any settlement, in an apparent softening of their position.

The U.N. envoy, Abdul Elah al-Khatib, arrived in Tripoli straight from talks with rebels in their eastern stronghold of Benghazi Monday.

Video: Fighting stalled in Libya’s western mountains (on this page)

He met Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi who said they had a productive dialogue -- but about implementing U.N. resolutions, not negotiating an end to the five-month-old conflict in which neither side seems to have the upper hand.

"This aggression (air strikes) needs to stop immediately, without that we cannot have a dialogue, we cannot solve any problems in Libya," Mahmoudi told a news conference afterwards.

Asked if he had told the envoy that Gadhafi's position was not up for negotiation, he said: "Exactly."

Khatib was not immediately available for comment.

In London, the British and French foreign ministers, William Hague and Alain Juppe, called once more for Gadhafi to leave power but, on the matter of whether he could stay in Libya, both said it was up to Libyans to decide.

Britain said it had not changed policy but comments by Hague were interpreted as tacit backing for the proposal, floated last week by France, that Gadhafi could remain in Libya.

A rebel leader this week appeared to endorse the view, which would mark a major shift from previous rebel demands that he leave and be tried for war crimes in The Hague.

Deadlines are approaching for the NATO-led alliance, whose U.N. mandate for military action -- granted on the grounds that it would protect civilians -- expires in two months.

Hopes an agreement could be reached before Ramadan have faded as the Muslim holy month gets nearer. It begins next week.

The poorly armed rebels hold a third of the country, mainly in the oil-rich east but also pockets like the Western Mountains near the capital and an enclave including the port of Misrata.

Hospitals in Misrata, the country's third-biggest city, said three rebel fighters had died near the city Monday and 11 were wounded in fighting Tuesday.

The rebels have been unable to move decisively against Gadhafi, even with NATO support, and have accused neighboring Algeria of bolstering his troops by turning a blind eye to a weapons shipment.

Algiers denied letting arms be offloaded at one of its ports.

NATO has continued to hammer Gadhafi's forces around Libya, striking twice in central Tripoli Monday, and Britain has said there will be no let-up during Ramadan.

Gadhafi says he supports talks with the rebels and the West, but has shown no sign of agreeing to cede power after 41 years of unchallenged supremacy, much of it as a pariah in Western eyes.

In his talks with the Benghazi-based rebel leadership council, U.N. envoy Khatib discussed ideas for ending the war but said later a firm initiative had yet to take shape.

"We did not put a plan in front of them. We discussed the views and ideas on how we can trigger a political process ... to achieve a political solution," he told Reuters.

He has said his ideas involve a ceasefire and, simultaneously, setting up a mechanism to manage the transitional period. He has not given details.

Senior rebel official Mahmoud Jibril said he had underlined that the rebels would accept only an initiative that involved the removal of Gadhafi from power as a first step to peace.

Rebel leaders have given conflicting signals in recent weeks over whether they would allow Gadhafi and his family to stay in Libya as part of a deal, providing he gave up power.

Video: Libyan rebels gain legitimacy (on this page)

Opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told the Wall Street Journal that would be acceptable. "Gadhafi can stay in Libya but it will have conditions," he said. "We will decide where he stays and who watches him. The same conditions will apply to his family."

But the rebels seem unlikely to unseat him any time soon.

They said they had almost taken the oil town of Brega a week ago, but later said minefields had slowed their advance.

While rebels received a boost this week when Turkey sent a first cargo of fuel under a multi-million dollar supply deal, a government rocket attack cut fuel supplies in Misrata.

The Libyan news agency JANA said Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi was in Tunisia Tuesday for talks with officials over "initiatives that were taken about what's happening in Libya, chief of which is the African Union's initiative."

The AU plan does not insist on Gadhafi standing down.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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