CAIRO: Algeria's government has refused ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi from entering the country and going into exile, reports said. News agencies reported Gaddafi had called Algeria's President Abdelaziz Boutefleka but did not get through. It comes after Algiers is coming under more fire by the international community for taking in members of the Gaddafi family who had fled the country after the rebels took over Tripoli and forced Gaddafi to flee. However, despite earlier reports to the contrary, Algeria said on Thursday it is ready to recognize Libya's former rebel government if it forms a broad-based administration, despite a row over the fate of Muammar Gaddafi's family. Algeria's Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci told Europe 1 radio that Libya's National Transitional Council had vowed to set-up a “government representative of all regions” and added: “When it has done so, we'll recognise it.” Algeria announced on Monday that Gaddafi's wife, two of his sons and his daughter had crossed into its territory, prompting Libya's ruling interim council to demand that they be handed back to face trial. Quoting a source close to the Algerian presidency, Algeria's El Watan newspaper said Gaddafi was believed to be on the Libyan-Algerian border town of Ghadamis. His location remains unknown more than a week after Tripoli fell to his foes. A top military commander of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Thursday he was believed to be in the desert town of Bani Walid about 150 kilometers southeast of Tripoli. “Gaddafi tried to reach President Bouteflika by phone but he refused to take the call. A presidential adviser excused him saying he was absent and busy with events in Algeria,” El Watan quoted the source as saying in a report on its website. It was not immediately known what time the call was made. “It is not the first time that Gaddafi and some of his aides have tried to get in touch with the president for potential negotiations but the Algerian position is clear and neutral and we refuse to get involved in Libya's internal affairs,” it quoted the source as saying. BM
