By Hadeel Al-Shalchi
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TARHOUNA, Libya: Armed loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi, including his security chief, fled into neighboring Niger in multiple convoys across hundreds of miles of desert Tuesday with Libya’s former rebels – now its de facto rulers – claiming the convoys were a major flight by Gadhafi’s most hardcore backers from his final strongholds.
Information on the size of the convoys and who was in them was scarce as they made their way across the vast swath of Sahara – over 1,600 kilometers – between any populated areas on the two sides of the border.

But as the first group of a dozen vehicles pulled into Niger’s capital Niamey Tuesday, a customs official confirmed that it included Mansour Dao, Gadhafi’s security chief and a key member of his inner circle, as well as around 12 other Gadhafi regime officials. The official, Harouna Ide, told The Associated Press that other Libyan convoys had passed through Agadez, a town about halfway between Niger’s border with Libya and its capital in the far southwest.
Gadhafi himself is not in the convoys, Niger’s Foreign Minister Bazoum Mohammad said, according to Al-Arabiya television.

A significant flight by Gadhafi’s senior regime figures could bring an important shift as the opposition forces that swept into Tripoli on Aug. 21 and toppled the longtime leader struggle to shut down the last holdouts of his supporters.

Three major cities remain under Gadhafi’s sway – Bani Walid, Sirte and Sabha. If hardcore figures flee in large numbers, it could reduce backing for Gadhafi among residents and open the door for an end to standoffs at the holdout cities.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. has urged authorities in Niger to detain any of the convoys’ individuals who may be wanted in Libya, confiscate weapons and impound any state property that was illegally taken out of the country.
Nuland said some senior members of the Gadhafi clan were in the group that reached Niger, but that it did not include Gadhafi or members of his family.

Nuland also said U.S. officials have been talking in recent days with all of Libya’s neighbors about their obligations.
An International Criminal Court warrant accuses Gadhafi of abuses in his crackdown on the rebellion, and both Niger and its neighbor, Burkina Faso, are signatories to the treaty that created the court.

Niger’s capital, reached by the convoy Tuesday, is in Niger’s southwestern corner near Burkina Faso, which last month offered Gadhafi asylum. Tuesday, however, Burkina Faso distanced itself from Gadhafi, said that it had no information on his whereabouts and indicated that if he arrived in the country he would be arrested.
Guma al-Gamaty, a British-based spokesman for the National Transitional Council said the convoys included “the heavyweight political, military and media officials and officers” and described them as “a turning point” that could lead to the hand-over of Bani Walid and Sirte.

A representative of Sirte in the NTC, Hassan Droua, said he had reports from witnesses inside the city that a convoy of cars belonging to Gadhafi’s son Muatassim had left Sirte, heading south toward the Niger border, after they were loaded with cash and gold from the city’s Central Bank branch.
Droua said there were talks Tuesday with tribes in Sirte for the hand-over of the city, while negotiators also met Tuesday with tribal elders from Bani Walid.