Egyptian airport officials say the Libyan interior minister has arrived in Cairo with family members.
The officials say the minister, Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah, landed just before noon on Monday at Cairo International Airport, with nine members of his family.
They say he arrived on a special plane from Tunisia and told Egyptian officials that he was "on a tourist visit."
The airport officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.
The secrecy surrounding the arrival and the fact that no official from the Libyan Embassy – which is loyal to leader Muammar Qadhafi – was at the airport to greet Abdullah, raised suspicions of a possible defection.
Meanwhile, Libyan state television has aired what it says is an audio message from Qadhafi urging loyalists to take arms and fight "traitors and NATO."
The Libyan leader's message was broadcast early Monday and contained much of the same rhetoric used in previous addresses aimed to pump confidence in the fight against the rebels.
He calls on Libyans to "dance, sing and fight" and says that as the number of "martyrs" increased, so does Libyan resolve.
It is his first message since rebels in the western mountains launched an offensive toward Tripoli.
On Sunday, the opposition fighters also battled government forces for control of the strategic city of Zawiya, just 48 km from the capital, Tripoli.
