Nigerien foreign minister Mohamed Bazoum

Libya is preparing to send a delegation to Niger in order to demand the return to Libyan authorities of fugitive leader Muammar Al Qathaf's third son, Saadi, and other officials from the old regime, and also to handover the large sums of money they were carrying when the fled Libya to Niger.

David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking beside Mr Jalil on Thursday promised to help the National Transitional Council, NTC, to ensure that Al Qathafi and his family are brought to justice.

Sarkozy even said he would contact the newly elected government of Niger to press it to "uphold the international rule of law". "People have to understand that there is nowhere they can have safe haven with impunity if they are dictators," he said.

Meanwhile, Niger's government has said that no grounds for arresting the Al Qathafi military officials and that only United Nations sanctions would force it to take action against any former Libyan personnel..

The country's foreign minister, Mohamed Bazoum has been reported saying that the former generals, security officials and hangers-on who entered Niger from Libya were under guard in the capital, Niamey but free to travel in the capital.

He further rejected claims by the US that Niger had told its diplomats that Al Qathafi's 38-year-old son Saadi, was under arrest, adding that since entering the country on Tuesday night, Saadi has been staying on government property.

"There is a lot of pressure on us that we would like to avoid and we will use what means we have to avoid it but if people come and there are no laws against that we will respect their right to stay," Mr Bazoum said.

Niger is facing problems it did not call for when six former senior Al Qathafi officials, including the head of the former dictator's security, and generals including the head of the air force fled Libya and enter Niger.

Bazoum confirmed that France and the US were bearing down on his government. "We didn't say to the Americans that we had arrested Saadi, we said he was under monitoring," he said.

He went on to say that they were sad that Libya's new leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil asked France to talk with them.. Mr Jalil is the legitimate leader of Libya and he should talk to us," he said.

Niger's foreign minister said that the former head of Al Qathafi's security, Mansour Dao, had moved into private property and that the others could request to do so as well.

"If they want to have a house here, they can do so as long as they remain under our monitoring. They can go to the markets for shopping or visit friends as long as they do not engage in politics. If they do not accept that, we will take them to the border and throw them out," Bazoum said.