Libya says it has "lost contact" with Mr Ghanem Libyan Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem has left the country, amid reports that he has defected.
Tunisian officials say Mr Ghanem - a former prime minister - crossed into Tunisia by road, before going to the island of Djerba.A spokesman for the Libyan rebels told the BBC the minister had defected, and was on his way to a European country.
The Libyan government said he had been on official business in Tunisia, but that Tripoli had lost touch with him.
"Shukri Ghanem has left Libya," a Tunisian official told AFP news agency. The official added that Mr Ghanem had gone to a hotel in Djerba but "not tried to contact the Tunisian authorities".
A UK-based spokesman for the rebel Transitional National Council, Jumaa el Gamaty, told the BBC: "Mr Shukri Ghanem has defected. I think as we speak he's in transitory European country."
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Tripoli had lost contact with him.
Mr Ibrahim told the New York Times newspaper that the government's fight against rebels "doesn't depend on individuals, even if they are high-ranking officials".
Mr Ghanem is also the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation.
A number of senior officials have abandoned the government of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi since the start of the uprising in February - including Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, Interior Minister Abdul Fattah Younis, Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, and a number of ambassadors.
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