Dan Peled, File / AP Photo
Niger must be great this time of year—especially if you’re a Gaddafi. The nation’s justice minister, Marou Amadou, said in a news conference Sunday that Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saadi has entered the country, and the U.S. State Department confirmed the news Monday afternoon. Despite calls by the Libyan rebel leadership that Saadi be arrested and extradited, the government of Niger said he is "under surveillence," and it has not detained him. Saadi was reportedly in a convoy of nine people, and was “intercepted” heading toward the northern town of Agadez, where other Libyan convoys were spotted in recent weeks. The rebel government immediately voiced outrage, calling for him to be extradited to Libya for trial. In Libya, rebel fighters remained outside Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte and stronghold of Bani Walid, while forces loyal to Gaddafi attacked a Libyan oil facility outside the coastal town of Ras Lanuf.