Senussi, Libya's feared former intelligence chief, was cornered and captured at a remote desert homestead Sunday, a day after Muammar Gaddafi's son was seized by Libyan fighters in the same region. The arrest of the last survivor of the old regime who is wanted at The Hague for crimes against humanity crowned a momentous couple of days for a new government that is still in the process of formation, and also posed immediate tests of its authority — both over powerful militias and with world powers. A commander of former rebel forces nominally loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC), General Ahmed Al-Hamdouni, said his men, acting on a tip, had found and surrounded Senussi at a house belonging to his sister near the town of Birak, about 500 km south of Tripoli and in the same general area as Saif Al-Islam was seized Saturday. NTC spokesman Abdul Hafez Ghoga later confirmed that Senussi, who is Saif Al-Islam's uncle by marriage, had been captured. It was not immediately clear if the arrests were linked, though there has been speculation since the fall of Tripoli three months ago that the pair were hiding together. Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi spent Sunday at a secret location in the militia stronghold of Zintan while in Tripoli the Libyan rebel leaders who overthrew his father tried to resolve their differences and form a government that can try the new captive. Western leaders, who backed February's uprising against Gaddafi but looked on squeamishly as rebel fighters filmed themselves taking vengeance on the fallen strongman a month ago, urged prime minister-designate Abdurrahim El-Keib to seek foreign help to ensure a fair trial.
