Brussels, Sep 13: NATO does not know whether Muammar Gaddafi is still in Libya as the fallen Libyan leader has disappeared from public view, an alliance spokesman said today.
Colonel Roland Lavoie, the NATO mission's spokesman, said the alliance had received, at “various points” in the conflict, intelligence confirming that Gaddafi was still in Libya, but that today his whereabouts remained a mystery.
“To be frank we don't know if he has left the country,” Lavoie told reporters via videolink from the operation's headquarters in Naples, Italy.
“He has not made public appearances in the country for a while and this raises questions about his whereabouts. But we don't have sure information about where he is at this time,” he said.
Gaddafi has only been heard from in audio recordings broadcast by a friendly channel, Syria-based Arrai Oruba television. And his most recent statement was read out by the channel's owner yesterday.
While Gaddafi's location remains the source of heavy speculation, members of Gaddafi's family and senior regime officials have fled to neighbouring Algeria and Niger in recent days.
Lavoie repeated NATO's position that it was not trying to track down Gaddafi, as he insisted the alliance was given a UN mandate to protect civilians from attacks.
“We are not in the business of targeting or chasing Gaddafi,” he said.
His loyalists, meanwhile, are struggling to keep a grip on their last bastions, with the area under their control shrinking by the day, Lavoie said. AFP
