Gaddafi's daughter says father is well and fighting

[1]

Aisha Gaddafi, daughter of the ousted Libyan leader, said that her father was well and fighting on the ground, as she attacked the country's new rulers and called them 'traitors'.

"Remain reassured, your great leader is doing well. He carries weapons and is fighting on the fronts," she said in a telephone message yesterday, aired by Syria-based Arrai television, which regularly broadcasts comments from Gaddafi or his family members.

"You can be proud of your leader," she said addressing the 'resistant people' of Libya.

Aisha Gaddafi, who fled to Algeria with her mother and two brothers late last month, called on the people to 'rise' against the new rulers, saying members of the National Transitional Council were "traitors who have broken their oath of allegiance" toward Gaddafi.

She warned Libyans that "those who have betrayed their allegiance could do the same with you".

Gaddafi's wife Safiya, two sons Mohammed and Hannibal and daughter Aisha escaped to Algeria on August 29. Algeria said it had allowed them in on 'humanitarian grounds'.

When rebel fighters stormed and captured Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya headquarters on August 23, they found no trace of the strongman, who has since made several broadcasts claiming he is still in Libya. Reports also emerged that he may be in the south.

"General Belgasem al-Abaaj, who we captured on Monday, said that Gaddafi had contacted him by phone about 10 days ago, and that he was moving secretly between (the oases towns of) Sabha and Ghat," an NTC commander, Mohammed Barka Wardugu, told the media.

Abaaj had said that Gaddafi "is helped by Nigerian and Chadian mercenaries who know the desert routes", added Wardugu, spokesman for the Desert Shield Brigade.