Qaddafi’s daughter gives birth in Algeria: authorities

Muammar Qaddafi's daughter Aisha, who fled to Algeria with other family members, has given birth to a baby girl, Algerian authorities announced Tuesday.

“Aisha gave birth very early this morning. She had a little girl. Mother and daughter are doing fine,” said a government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Libyan interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil on Tuesday said he believes Qaddafi’s family members will leave Algeria for another country, adding that Algeria would not keep “criminals” wanted by the international justice.

But Algerian foreign ministry spokesman Amar Belani said his country authorized the entry of Qaddafi’s wife and three children for “strictly humanitarian reasons.”

Asked by AFP about a request issued by Libya’s ruling Transitional National Council (NTC) for the return of the children, Aisha, Mohammed and Hannibal, and Safiya, Qaddafi’s second wife, as well as details of where they are, Belani simply replied: “These people have been admitted to Algeria for strictly humanitarian reasons.”

“We have informed the Secretary General of the United Nations, the president of the (UN) Security Council and the president of the executive council of the executive council of the NTC,” he said in an e-mail sent to AFP.

When the Algerian foreign ministry on Monday announced the arrival of the Qaddafi family, the rebels’ justice minister Mohammed al-Allagya told AFP that the Algerian authorities would be asked to send them back to Libya.

The spokesman of the rebel government, Mahmud Shammam, said on Monday evening that the NTC had been told by Algeria of the family’s arrival.