Tripoli, Sept 12 : One of fallen Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's
sons has reportedly fled to Niger, as the new rebel leaders focus their
attention on bringing the country under their full control.

Saadi el-Gaddafi had escaped the rebels' immediate grasp by crossing the border through the desert, the New York Times reports.

Mahmoud
Jibril, who is acting as prime minister of the rebels' Transitional
National Council, said on Sunday that oil production had begun again,
and that two months of overdue salaries for state workers would soon be
paid. He also claimed that negotiations were under way to bring more
rebel militias under the direct control of the council.

Mustafa
Abdel Jalil, the head of the council, visited Tripoli on Saturday night
for the first time since the ouster of Colonel Qaddafi and called for
reconciliation and order.

Meanwhile, reports have suggested that
Gaddafi's Foreign Intelligence Chief, Bouzaid Dorda, is still in rebel
custody, but the government of Niger confirmed that Saadi el-Gaddafi had
escaped the rebels' immediate grasp by crossing the border through the
desert.

Niger''s justice Minister Marou Amadou said that Saadi
was in a convoy of about eight people that was intercepted by a Nigerois
Army patrol.

A dozen top officials of the colonel's government
crossed into Niger last week, fueling speculation that the deposed
dictator, whose whereabouts remain unknown, would flee there or to
another of the sub-Saharan African countries soon. (ANI)