New York - A son and daughter of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi moved from Algeria to Oman in apparent violation of a United Nations travel ban, the committee monitoring UN sanctions against Libya said on Tuesday.
Rwanda's UN Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana, who chairs the committee, told the Security Council that Algeria's UN Mission confirmed on June 5 that Aisha Gaddafi and Mohammed Gaddafi had relocated to Oman along with other family members.
Aisha Gaddafi, a lawyer in her mid-30s, and Mohammed Gaddafi, in his early 40s, have been on the UN sanctions blacklist since early 2011, subject to an asset freeze and travel ban. Both fled to Algeria after Gaddafi was ousted later that year.
Gasana said the sanctions committee has directed its panel of experts to investigate their move to Oman, which was not authorised by the UN under its exemption procedures.
Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, the current Security Council president, said an interim report from the panel of experts is expected next month addressing the issue of the two Gaddafi children's travels.
Libya's Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz told reporters in Doha, Qatar in late March that Oman had granted asylum to Gaddafi’s widow, Safiya, and other family members.
Aisha Gaddafi helped in the defence of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's toppled dictator, in the trial that led to his hanging. She had been a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Program, but the UN ended its agreement with her as Muammar Gaddafi cracked down on anti-government protesters. She gave birth on the border as the family members fled to Algeria. While in Algeria, she spoke several times to Arab media and denounced Libya's new government. In November, she called on Libyans in an interview with a Syrian TV station to overthrow their new rulers.
Mohammed Gaddafi is the only child of Gaddafi and his first wife, Fatiha. He was Libya's Olympic chief and was involved in the country's telecommunications industry. The rebels reported capturing him after they moved into Tripoli, but soon after they said he had escaped from house arrest.
Their brother, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, the first child from Gaddafi’s marriage to second wife Safiya, was the only sibling captured. Once the face of reform in Libya, he led his father's drive to emerge from pariah status and was considered his heir apparent. Revolutionary forces found him deep in Libya's southern desert a month after his father was killed in October 2011 and took him to the mountain city of Zintan, where he remains in their custody.
The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court has charged Seif al-Islam Gaddafi with crimes against humanity. Libyan authorities are appealing the international court's right to try him, saying that he should face justice at home, but the court says Tripoli cannot give him a fair trial. - Sapa-AP