Moussa Ibrahim was the face of Qaddafi’s rule in its final months, appearing on Arab and Western media outlets to defend and explain government actions.

The former spokesman for deposed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has been expelled from Egypt, a state newspaper said on Friday, though the spokesman disputed the report.

The website of Egypt’s state newspaper al-Ahram said Egyptian authorities asked Moussa Ibrahim to leave the country at the request of the Libyan government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni.

The article included what it said was a copy of a request by the Libyan interior ministry to extradite Ibrahim.

Ibrahim, reached over Facebook, denied that he had been thrown out of Egypt, saying that he had left the country because of work commitments in Serbia.

Ibrahim was the face of Qaddafi’s rule in its final months, appearing on Arab and Western media outlets to defend and explain government actions.

A number of high-profile Qaddafi officials, some of whom are wanted in Libya, have lived openly in Cairo since 2011.

The internationally recognized government of Prime Minister Thinni has increasingly close relations with Egypt, which is training Libyan troops to take on Islamist militants that have grown in strength since Qaddafi was overthrown and killed.

Western powers worry that OPEC member Libya is heading towards civil war as authorities are too weak to control fighters who helped oust Qaddafi in 2011 but have now seized territory including the capital Tripoli.

Thinni said on Wednesday he was open to talks with his rivals, provided “all sides make concessions.”

 
[wpResize]