Senior official arrives in the UK as Britain gives marching orders to
five Libyan diplomats citing national security.
Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister, has defected to the United
Kingdom, the British foreign ministry has confirmed.
The ministry said in a statement that Koussa had arrived at
Farnborough Airport, in the south of England, on a flight from Tunisia
on Wednesday.
"He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is
resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will
release further details in due course," the statement said.
"We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better
future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that
meets the aspirations of the Libyan people."
It added that Koussa was one of the most senior officials in Gaddafi's
government with a role to represent it internationally, which is
"something that he is no longer willing to do".
Tunisia's TAP news agency said on Monday that Koussa had crossed over
into Tunisia from Libya.
A government spokesman in the Libyan capital Tripoli had earlier
denied speculation that he had defected.
"He is on a diplomatic mission," Mussa Ibrahim, the spokesman, said.
He gave no further details.
Diplomats expelled
Earlier on Wednesday, the British government announced the expulsion
of Libya's military attache and four other diplomats in protest and
for intimidating opposition groups in London.
A government source quoted by Reuters said the diplomats, believed to
be supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, have been given seven
days to leave.
William Hague, the British foreign minister, told legislators the move
was to "underline our grave concern at the regime's behaviour".
"... we have today taken steps to expel five diplomats at the Libyan
embassy in London, including the military attache," he said in
parliament on Wednesday.
"The government also judged that, were those individuals to remain in
Britain, they could pose a threat to our security."
"We believe they are among the strongest Gaddafi supporters in the
embassy, that they have put pressure on Libyan opposition and student
groups in the UK and that there is a risk of damage to UK national
security if they remain"
William Hague, British foreign minister
Hague also announced that a British diplomatic mission led by senior
diplomat Christopher Prentice had visited the rebel-held city of
Benghazi earlier this week, and met key opposition groups including
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the rebel Libyan National Council.
Britain has long treated Libya as a rogue state. The 1984 shooting of
a London policewoman from inside the Libyan embassy, the Libyan arming
of IRA guerrillas in Northern Ireland and the 1988 Lockerbie airline
bombing over Scotland, for which a Libyan was convicted, contributed
to Gaddafi being branded a pariah.
A foreign office spokesman, the expelled diplomats were thought to be
strong Gaddafi supporters.
"We won't go into details on their activities," the spokesman said.
"But we believe they are among the strongest Gaddafi supporters in the
embassy, that they have put pressure on Libyan opposition and student
groups in the UK and that there is a risk of damage to UK national
security if they remain."
Arms debate
Britain hosted an international conference on Tuesday that piled
pressure on Gaddafi to quit and pledged to continue military action
against his forces until he complies with a UN resolution to protect
civilians.
At the London meeting, the question of arming Libyan rebels moved up
the international agenda, although both Britain and the United States
said they had taken no decision to supply arms.
On Wednesday, David Cameron, the British prime minister, repeated that
line, adding that UN resolution 1973 allowed all necessary measures to
protect civilians.
"Our view is that this would not necessarily rule out the provision of
assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances,"
Cameron told parliament.
"So ... we do not rule it out but we have not taken the decision to do
so."
Expressing his reservations, British foreign minister Hague said
introducing new weapons into a conflict could have "unforeseeable and
unknown consequences".
"Such considerations would have to be very carefully weighed before
the government changed its policy on this
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment