Libya’s Security Chief Arrives in Cairo

[pampango]

Source: New York Times

The Libyan security chief arrived unexpectedly with his family in Cairo on Monday in an apparent high-level defection from the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi as the rebels challenging his rule seized ground in a strategic oil port just 30 miles from his Tripoli stronghold.

Colonel Qaddafi’s interior minister, Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah, landed on a private plane in Cairo with nine family members who were traveling on tourist visas and headed for a local hotel, Egyptian security officials at the airport said Monday.

If confirmed, Mr. Abdullah’s defection would signal a new crack in the Qaddafi government after weeks of seeming stability since the defection of Colonel Qaddafi’s righthand man, Musa Kusa, and a handful of others around the time of start of the Libyan uprising and NATO’s bombing campaign in its support. While the Qaddafi government has recently dispatched other senior officials on quiet trips abroad for diplomatic negotiations or other errands, those on official business do not usually travel with their families.

Mr. Abdullah’s flight to Cairo came as the Libyan rebels also appear to have broken out of a stalemate to make their first major advance in weeks, occupying at large portions of the strategic city of Zawiyah with the hope of rebel fighters who had gone underground inside the city. Taking Zawiyah places the rebels on Colonel Qaddafi’s doorstep where they could also threaten his access to fuel from Zawiyah’s refineries and others supplies over the coastal road from Tunisia.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/world/africa/16libya.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[al bupp]

1. Actually, he's currently a Deputy Interior Minister

@JomanaCNN
jomana karadsheh As many have pointed out al-Mabrouk is a frmr #Libya min of Int- most recently it appears he was a deputy min of int.
3 hours ago via web

http://twitter.com/#!/JomanaCNN/status/103118481641308161

[julian09]

2. Took him long enough

tide is turning against Qaddafi's forces.:wtf:

[joshcryer]

3. The regime trickles to a close.