Muammar Gaddafi's forces are likely to reject an ultimatum to stop fighting in the Colonel's hometown of Sirte by Saturday, his chief spokesman has said.
"No dignified honourable nation would accept an ultimatum from armed gangs," Moussa Ibrahim told the Associated Press, hours after the leader of Libya's interim government called on loyalist forces to lay down their arms of face military might.
Speaking early on Wednesday, he also reiterated an offer to send Gaddafi's son Saadi to negotiate with the National Transitional Council, now operating from Tripoli, and form a new government.
Earlier a senior official from the rebel council told Al Jazeera that Saadi, Gaddafi's third son, was willing to give himself up. Abdelhakim Belhajm the NTC's military leader, told the broadcaster Saadi had called him and asked if he can surrender.
Another senior NTC minister added they had "a good idea" where deposed leader Gaddafi is hiding but did not elaborate.
Speculation over the Colonel's whereabouts are rife, with some rumours suggesting he is in Sirte. A former bodyguard for Khamis, Gaddafi's youngest son, told Sky News the ousted leader was heading for the town of Sabha, one of the remaining strongholds of the Gaddafi regime.
Meanwhile NTC officials have shed fresh light on the escape route used by four members of Gaddafi's family who fled to Algeria on Monday.
His wife, daughter and two sons took a convoy of six armoured Mercedes limousines on a road through central Libya not yet under the control of the rebel council, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Guma al-Gamaty, the NTC's UK co-ordinator, said the motorcade was carrying a total of 32 Gaddafi family members, including wife Safiya, daughter Aisha and two sons, Hannibal and Mohammed.
"They were kept waiting there for 10 to 12 hours while the Algerian government decided what to do. It was the Algerian president himself [Abdelaziz Bouteflika] who authorised their entry," Gamaty said.