'Generous' Kadhafi Welcome

Two other residents sitting in front of their plot in this former Sahelian trading hub agree and say they would be happy to give Kadhafi hospitality.

“We are ready to protect him, offer him shelter and assistance. Nobody can root him out from this place. Tell him to come,” said one of them, who asked not to be named. One of the richest men in Gao, who also wished to remain anonymous, concurred.

“Why not build him a house in Gao or allow him to stay in his residence in Timbuktu,” he said, referring to the Malian town that was once a renowned centre for Islamic learning and where Kadhafi owns land covering several hectares.

The Libyan leader once had himself declared the Imam of Timbuktu and flew in African leaders to pray with him in the city’s stadium. Ibrahim Ag Kina, a former Tuareg rebel, said he had received more than 250,000 dollars from Libyan envoys as part of an operation to disarm the rebellion in northern Mali.

Speaking to AFP, he claimed that Libyan diplomats came to see him last year to “ask me to organise a disarmament operation with people from my tribe and tell me that Kadhafi was going to give money.” “I got my money and the envoys took their cut. Kadhafi was a generous man,” he said, displaying a photograph of himself standing next to the Libyan leader.

Unconfirmed reports said Kadhafi and two of his sons, including Seif al-Islam, were hiding around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Tripoli. Mali has seen several demonstrations of support for Kadhafi’s regime in recent months. They were organised by several prominent writers and involved a number of political parties and associations.

The conflict in Libya has nonetheless polarised Malian opinion. “What is happening to him is unfair but it has to be said he was violating people’s basic rights,” said Zoueratt, a young student in Gao.

“I am nonetheless in favour of granting him asylum. He was not a democrat but one should not forget that the Libyan rebels who now control most of the country are not either,” she said.