Muammar Gaddafi Live Blog

Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Friday he had granted Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi asylum on humanitarian grounds but did not know the location of another fugitive son Saif al-Islam, South African media reported.

The announcement will strain already troubled relations between Niger and Libya's interim rulers, who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi after an eight month uprising and want both sons to stand trial for alleged atrocities.

Saadi, a businessman and former professional footballer, is in Niger after escaping across the border from Libya when National Transitional Council (NTC) forces captured the capital Tripoli in August.

"We have agreed on granting asylum to Saadi Gaddafi for humanitarian reasons," the South African Press Association (SAPA) quoted Issoufou telling a news conference at the end of a two-day visit to South Africa. [Reuters]

The UN Security Council is urging Libyan authorities to prevent shoulder-fired missiles and other arms purchased by Muammar Gaddafi from getting into the hands of armed groups.

The Russian-drafted resolution adopted unanimously by the council on Monday also calls on the Libyan government to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles in coordination with international authorities.

Andrew Shapiro, the US assistant secretary of state, said earlier this month that Libya was believed to have about 20,000 such missiles in its arsenals before civil war began in March.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary general, has hailed the end of the alliance's military intervention in Libya.

Rasmussen, who travelled to Tripoli, spoke to Al Jazeera about NATO’s decision to end its mission in Libya, where it had operated under a UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians there.

He said that "a significant threat against civilian populations no longer existed in Libya".

"We have fulfilled UN mandate and prevented massacre of Libyan population. The mission was a great success," he said.

NATO has formally announced the end of its military campaign in Libya, seven months after launching an air and sea operation that helped in the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary general, announced the end of the mission in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday.

“I had a meeting which none of us could have imagined a year ago. I had a meeting with [NTC] chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil. We discussed the successful mission that NATO and partners conducted over last seven months to save people of Libya,” Rasmussen said.

Jalil thanked Rasmussen for the successful operation on the behalf of Libyan people.

“Today, we have achieved victory by the grace of God and a resolution has been handed to put an end to NATO operation by midnight,” Jalil said.