Loyal followers of Muammar Qaddafi are refusing to surrender

Loyal followers of Muammar Qaddafi are refusing to surrender to
those who have forced him into hiding, raising the prospect of new fighting in Libya when an ultimatum expires after this week’s Eid holiday

"Qaddafi not finished yet"

Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who as Qaddafi’s justice minister until turning against him this year has had ample opportunity to observe the survival instincts of one of the world's longest ruling autocrats, warned again on Tuesday:

“Muammar Qaddafi is not finished yet.”

“He still poses a threat to Libyans and the revolution. He still has pockets of support in Libya and supporters outside Libya, both individuals and countries,” Abdel Jalil said in the council’s eastern stronghold of Benghazi, according to Reuters.

In the Sahara far south of Sirte, the town of Sabha is among those where the writ of the ruling council does not run.

It was across the desert that Qaddafi’s wife and three of his children fled into Algeria. They arrived just in time for his daughter Aisha to give birth at the oasis of Djanet on Tuesday, according to Algerian officials who tried to soothe Libyan anger by insisting they granted refuge to the Qaddafis out of concern for the expectant mother and in the traditions of hospitality entrenched in local nomadic culture.

Algiers, wary of any threat the Arab Spring movements might pose to its own veteran rulers and fearful that a post-Qaddafi Libya might be helpful to its Islamist enemies, is not among the four dozen or so countries to recognize the National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya’s legitimate government.

But, according to an Algerian newspaper, it has decided not to give asylum to Qaddafi himself and would hand him over, if he arrived, to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, which has indicted him, his son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief for crimes against humanity.

The whereabouts of all three are unknown, though council fighters said intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi had been killed at the weekend along with Qaddafi’s son Khamis, a military commander. Both men had been reported dead before.

Ahmed Bani, a military spokesman for the council, again ruled out any negotiation with Qaddafi or his supporters and called on those holding out to give up quietly: “We will not negotiate with his murderers and the likes of him,” he said.

Agencies