President Mugabe’s political opponents claim their spies saw Gaddafi arrive in the country on a Zimbabwe Air Force jet in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

They say the Libyan dictator was taken to a mansion in Harare’s Gunninghill suburb, where agents from his all-female bodyguard were apparently seen patrolling the grounds.

‘There’s no doubt that Gaddafi is here as a ‘unique guest’ of Mugabe,’ a spokesman for Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change told the Sun.

If he has left Libya, Gaddafi could have fled from an airbase in his home town of Sirte, which has been bombarded by Nato warplanes in recent days.