Gaddafi’s prime minister arrested in Tunisia

Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi is most senior member of ousted Libyan regime captured since rebel takeover Muammar Gaddafi’s last prime minister has been arrested in Tunisia, becoming the most senior member of the former Libyan regime to be detained since the government’s overthrow by Nato-backed rebels a month ago, it emerged on Thursday. Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi was caught near the border with Algeria and jailed for six months for illegal entry, though he is likely to be handed over to Libya to face investigation, since the government in Tunis recognises the new ruling national transitional council (NTC) in Tripoli. Gaddafi himself and his sons Seif al-Islam and Mutasim are thought to be still on the run or hiding inside Libya, while other family members have fled to Algeria and Niger. Other prominent Gaddafi supporters escaped to Niger after the fall of the key southern town Sebha on Wednesday, an NTC military spokesman said. The NTC also confirmed that banned chemical weapons had been found in the newly-captured area. Al-Mahmoudi remained prime minister until the fall of Tripoli, when he crossed into Tunisia. He later appeared to try to create the impression that he had in fact defected when he told an Arabic TV channel he supported the rebels. But most Libyans are likely to see him as a man who stayed loyal to Gaddafi almost to the end. Viewed as a technocrat, he also served as chairman of the Libyan Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund. In May he put out feelers towards the rebels – prompting speculation that he was trying to circumvent Gaddafi – but nothing came of the initiative. News of his detention came on the day the US formally re-established its diplomatic presence in Tripoli after the end of fighting in most of the country. Its ambassador, Gene Cretz, was forced to leave last November because of what he called a “visceral” reaction to his unflattering descriptions of Gaddafi’s personality, habits and regime that were exposed in documents released by WikiLeaks. The diplomat said he had been “physically threatened” and had to return to the US immediately. In a short ceremony at which the stars and stripes was raised and Libya’s new national anthem played by a brass band, Cretz said he believed it was only “a matter of time” before the Gaddafi forces were defeated. Britain’s diplomats, led by John Jenkins, previously based in the rebel capital of Benghazi, are still living and working under stringent security in a Tripoli hotel after the main embassy building was ransacked and burned out. In another diplomatic advance, Algeria said on Thursday it was now ready to recognise the NTC – having previously conspicuously refrained from doing so. Libya’s acceptance at the UN this week seems to have persuaded remaining waverers to follow most of the rest of the world and accept that the Gaddafi era is finally over. The chemical weapons stocks were reportedly found in the Jufra area, 435 miles south of Tripoli. Libya was supposed to have destroyed its entire stockpile of chemical weapons in early 2004 as part of a British-engineered rapprochement with the west. It also abandoned a rudimentary nuclear programme. But the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons had stated it believed that Libya had kept 9.5 tonnes of mustard gas at a secret location: it is that which appears to have now been seized and secured. The latest rebel advances in the south have not been matched by parallel progress on two other fronts. Loyalists are still holding out in Gaddafi’s birthplace of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, though there have been signs a new offensive is looming there. The capture of Sirte would clear the way for an unbroken link between Tripoli and Benghazi. Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Tunisia Middle East Africa Ian Black guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.