Leaders within Libya’s rebel movement believe Col. Muammar Gaddafi has fled the encircled town of Bani Walid in a southbound military convoy making its way toward the borders of Niger and Chad. An official with the rebels’ National Transitional Council says Gaddafi was believed to be in a southern town near Libya’s border with Niger roughly three days ago. On a visit to the rebel-controlled capital of Tripoli, U.N. special envoy Ian Martin praised the rebels’ advances over Gaddafi.

Ian Martin, U.N. special envoy: “I want to begin by repeating the congratulations that I expressed on my arrival in Tripoli to the Libyan people on the extraordinary transformation that they have achieved in this country, and I do so all the more because even in the very short time I’ve been in Tripoli, one can see the progress that is being made in bringing Tripoli back towards a more normal condition.”