Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Interpol issued a Red Notice
arrest warrant Thursday for Saadi Gadhafi, one of Moammar Gadhafi's
sons, for allegedly taking property through force and intimidation while
serving as the head of the Libyan Football Federation.
A Red Notice allows Interpol, the international police agency, to
circulate an arrest warrant widely with the intention of extraditing a
suspect.
Earlier this month, Saadi Gadhafi fled to Niger where he was granted safe haven on humanitarian grounds.
Niger has refused to heed the demand of Libya's interim government,
the National Transitional Council, that it hand over regime officials
who had fled there. Niger believes Saadi and other loyalists who have
taken refuge there could face the death penalty if returned to Libya.
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Interpol issued similar arrest warrants this month for the ousted
Libyan leader and another of his sons, Saif al-Islam. Both are wanted by
the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands, for alleged
crimes against humanity committed after the start of the Libyan
uprising in February.
Earlier this month, Saadi Gadhafi told CNN in a telephone call that
he had not seen his father or brother, Saif al-Islam, for two months.
The Red Notice arrest warrant was issued as new reports surfaced over
the possible whereabouts of Gadhafi and two of his sons, Saif al-Islam
and Mutassim.
"We have reliable information that Gadhafi is protected by the Tuareg
tribe located between Niger, Algeria and Ghadamis town in Libya," Col.
Abdul Basit, an interim government military spokesman, told CNN.
He said Saif al-Islam is in Bani Walid and Mutassim is in Sirte.
Both Bani Walid, home to a powerful tribe loyal to Gadhafi, and Sirte
have been the scene of fierce fighting as troops attempt to wrest
control from Gadhafi loyalists.
Near Bani Walid's front line, senior National Transitional Council
field commander Daou Al-Salhine Al Jadak was killed Tuesday, said
Abdallah Kenshil, a chief National Transitional Council negotiator.
"A rocket struck a truck transporting Al Jadak and six of his aides," Kenshil said.
The accuracy of attacks in and around Bani Walid have prompted
allegations by at least one military field commander of possible
infiltration by Gadhafi loyalists.
"There are spies among our revolutionaries who send our coordinates
to the snipers and Gadhafi loyalists firing from inside Bani Walid, and
the proof is that their attacks have been precisely targeted," said Emad
Ziglam, a field commander of the Tripoli troops fighting outside Bani
Walid.
"The mistake was mixing the rebel units. We should not have allowed
fighters from Benghazi among others to join in, since we do not know
them all. There are definitely traitors among us."
Division among the ranks of anti-Gadhafi fighters is not unusual.
There have been a number of reports during the months-long war of
infighting and arguments among troops, raising concerns about a lack of
discipline and leadership among the ragtag group of fighters and the
possible threat such issues could pose to the country's stability
Meanwhile, neither side appeared to be making headway in Bani Walid, Ziglam told CNN.
He described the humanitarian situation in Bani Walid as "really bad"
and said 30,000 of the city's residents had fled toward Tripoli and
12,000 toward Sabha, in the south.
Thousands of people have fled the fighting in Sirte, the birthplace
of Gadhafi, where the ousted leader retains a following. The National
Transitional Council said that about 100 families left the city
Wednesday.
It also said Sirte was surrounded by revolutionary fighters but
estimated that about 5,000 pro-Gadhafi fighters remained within the
city.
Transitional council military commanders said its forces would wait a
few days before launching any major offensive against the city in order
to give civilians there more time to leave.
NATO estimates that 200,000 of Libya's 6 million people are still under threat from Gadhafi's supporters.
Gadhafi has not been seen in public since the fall of Tripoli.
Basit, the military spokesman, did not say how the interim government
discovered Gadhafi's putative whereabouts, and his assertions could not
be verified. The National Transitional Council has made a number of
claims about the whereabouts of Gadhafi that have proved false.
Ghadamis is in western Libya, on the border with Algeria. Tuareg
tribesmen have helped Gadhafi loyalists escape Libya across the expanses
of the Sahel.
During his rule, Gadhafi often turned to the nomadic Tuareg to
bolster his forces and his attempts to manipulate and destabilize the
poor countries to the south of Libya: Niger, Chad and Mali.
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