The UN Security Council has cancelled its authorisation for a seven-month-old NATO military operation in Libya that led to the ouster and death of Muammar Gaddafi.
The 15-nation council unanimously approved a resolution terminating the UN mandate.
The mandate set the no-fly zone over Libya and permitted foreign military forces, including NATO, to use "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians.
The resolution said the UN authorisation for foreign military operations in Libya will lapse at 11.59pm local Libyan time on 31 October.
Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, wanted by the International Criminal Court, has crossed the Libyan border into Niger, a senior official in the NTC told Reuters today.
Saif al-Islam, fearing for his life if captured in Libya, appears to be trying to hand himself in to the court, but the official said he had not yet found a way to do so.
"There is a contact with Mali and with South Africa and with another neighbouring country to organise his exit ... He hasn't got confirmation yet, he's still waiting," said the official, who declined to be named.
Saif al-Islam, 39, went on the run at about the time his father was killed a week ago.
He has indicated he is ready to surrender to justice, as has ex-
He has indicated he is ready to surrender to justice, as has ex-intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi.
Both men face charges of crimes against humanity for their response to February's uprising.
Conflicting reports of Saif al-Islam's whereabouts have circulated since he vanished from the Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid in the north of the country, with some accounts putting him, and Senussi, in Niger.
Confirmation from Gaddafi's surviving entourage has not been available.
One international lawyer who says he represents a member of the family questioned the reliability of NTC accounts but declined comment on the report of a proposed surrender.
The NTC source said Saif al-Islam had not left Libya and was being sheltered by a prominent figure among the nomadic Tuareg people of the desert, whom he had supported financially in the past.
The rugged and empty area close to the borders of Niger and Algeria has offered an escape route to others in his family.
However, under ICC indictment, Saif al-Islam would find it harder than his relatives to secure a safe haven abroad.
He was reported by an aide to be fearing for his life when he fled Bani Walid, and if he has seen the gruesome video footage of his father's capture, he is likely to be under few illusions about how he might be treated if he remains in Libya.
"Saif is concerned about his safety," the NTC source said. "He believes handing himself over is the best option for him."
