Eyewitness to Qaddafi's last moments in charge

Libyan rebels, on the hunt for Muammar Qaddafi, issued an ultimatum today. They told loyalists in his hometown, Sirte, to surrender by the weekend, or face attack.

Qaddafi may not be there. CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports a former insider says the dictator has fled south to the remote desert town of Sabha. Meanwhile, a rebel prisoner is shedding light on the dictator's last moments in power.

It was Friday, and Libyan government soldiers commanded by Qaddafi's son Khamis had retreated to a base in Tripoli, where Qaddafi's last frantic moments in power may have played out.

Government soldier Abu Salim, 17, had the job of protecting Khamis when travelling in convoys. Now a rebel prisoner, Abu Salim says he was just yards away from Khamis when a dictatorship ended.

About 1:30 in the afternoon, an ordinary car pulled up - nothing fancy that would attract attention - and inside was Muammar Qaddafi, joined shortly after by his heavily pregnant daughter, Aisha.

Qaddafi, said Abu Salim, looked calm. During a 15-minute meeting, Qaddafi handed over the control of the army, such as it is, to Khamis. Then there is an intense family farewell; A sister to her brother; A father to his son.

From here Qaddafi, with his daughter at his side, became a deposed tyrant on the run. They left the compound in a group of SUV's while the fighting was still going on, and headed south.

Abu Salim's commander told him Qaddafi was headed for Sabha, where he can use strong tribal ties and the vast desert for protection. It's a familiar hideout for him; It's where he fled after the US bombing in 1986.

On Saturday, Abu Salim says he held the door open as Khamis got into an armored car. Minutes later, it was blown apart by an apparent missile strike, and based on the young soldier's information, rebels announced that Khamis was dead.

If Qaddafi is holed up in Sabha, it will be hard for rebels to get him. He is also a master of disinformation, and there is the chance he said he was going one place and headed somewhere else to fool the rebels out to capture or kill him.