STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: A U.S. official says the Gadhafi kin are believed to be in Algerian custody
- Algeria allowed the Gadhafi relatives entry on humanitarian grounds, diplomat says
- The 3 Gadhafi children in Algeria are named in a U.N. Security Council travel ban
- A rebel spokesman says the NTC wants them returned to Libya
(CNN) -- The wife of fugitive Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, three of his children and some of his grandchildren arrived in Algeria on Monday morning, Algerian diplomats said.
Mourad Benmehidi, the Algerian ambassador to the United Nations, said he relayed the news to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier Monday. Benmehidi said his country granted entrance to Gadhafi's wife, Safia, his daughter, Aisha, sons Hannibal and Mohamed and their children on "humanitarian grounds."
"We made sure the international community has been informed," said Benmehidi.
The ambassador said he did not know whether Moammar Gadhafi was expected to seek entry into Algeria and claimed none of the Gadhafis were subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions.
In fact, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1970, passed on February 26, includes the names of all three Gadhafi children who are now in Algeria as being subject to a "travel ban" because of their "closeness of association with (the) regime."
The U.N. ban requires "all member states" to prevent them and others listed from entering their territories, unless there is some special circumstance that the council agrees warrants an exception. The resolution also allows the nation -- in this case, Algeria -- to determine "on a case-by-case basis that such entry or transit is required to advance peace and stability (and) notifies the committee within 48 hours after making such a determination."
RELATED TOPICS
News on Monday of the Gadhafi relatives' departure from Libya came the same day that a senior rebel commander reported that Khamis Gadhafi, a son of the Libyan leader and military commander in his regime, had been killed Sunday night.
Mahdi al-Harati, the vice chairman of the rebels' Military Council, the military wing of the National Transitional Council, said Khamis Gadhafi died in a battle with rebel forces between the villages of Tarunah and Bani Walid in northwest Libya.
Khamis Gadhafi, who was a senior military commander under his father, was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries, said al-Harati. He was then buried in the area by rebel forces, al-Harati said.
His father, Moammar Gadhafi, meanwhile, is still wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of war crimes. So, too, is Moammar's son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and his brother-in-law and intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Sanussi.
But should any of those three get to Algeria, there is no guarantee they would face trial. Algeria is not a signatory of the Rome Treaty that established the International Criminal Court.
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