(eTN) – As President Robert Mugabe’s staunch ally, Muammar Gaddafi battles to violently halt revolt against his four-decade-long reign. Questions are being asked if the Libyan leader would become the second fallen dictator to seek refuge in Zimbabwe.

Former Ethiopian strongman, Mengistu Haile Mariam, who was slapped with the death penalty in his own country for slaughtering hundreds of people, lives like a king at a farm in Norton and in Harare’s leafy Gunhill suburb.

According to a news report from The Standard in Kenya, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week said they were open to the idea of Gaddafi fleeing to Zimbabwe, in the first indication that such an option could be on the table.

“I was almost rendered speechless by the idea of him and Mugabe coming together,” Clinton told journalists in Geneva.

“And if the violence could be ended by his leaving, that might be a good thing.”

The speculation might not be far-fetched following claims — although dismissed by Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa — that Zimbabwe has given Gaddafi military support in the war against his own people.