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Libya Foreign Minister 'Defects'
BBC NEWS, AFRICA
March 30, 2011: Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa is in Britain and "no longer willing" to work for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the Foreign Office says. He flew into an airport near the capital earlier on Wednesday. He has subsequently spent hours talking to British officials.
A British Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We can confirm that Moussa Koussa arrived at Farnborough Airport on 30 March from Tunisia. He traveled 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 detail in due course.
"Moussa Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi's government and his role was to represent the regime internationally - something that he is no longer willing to do.
A senior US administration official, speaking to AFP News agency on condition of anonymity, said: "This is a very significant defection and an indication that people around Gaddafi think the writing's on the wall."
France and the US say they are sending envoys to Benghazi to meet the interim administration. And an international conference on Libya in London has agreed to set up a contact group involving Arab governments to co-ordinate help for a post-Gaddafi Libya. The US and Britain have suggested the UN resolution authorizing international action in Libya could also permit the supply of weapons.
British Prime Minister David Cameron in Parliament reinforced this message on Wednesday. "UN [Security Council Resolution] 1973 allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas, and our view is this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances," he said. "We do not rule it out, but we have not taken the decision to do so."
Meanwhile, US media reports say President Barack Obama has authorized covert support for the Libyan rebels. The CIA and White House have both declined to comment on the reports.
Several thousand people have been killed and thousands wounded since the uprising against Col Gaddafi's rule began more than six weeks ago.
