After a period of stabilization for the Gaddafi regime, this can't be a good sign for his future.
The Libyan government is refusing to deny claims that the oil minister has fled the country in the second high-profile defection from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime since the two-month air campaign began.
Shukri Ghanem, who had been oil minister since 2006 and was prime minister for three years before that, is believed to have contacted officials in Tunis after arriving there on Monday.
Libyan officials said they had been trying unsuccessfully to contact Ghanem for the past 24 hours. He is believed to have crossed the border into Tunisia and shortly afterwards made clear his intention to defect.
