Libya News_Libya's Foreign Minister 'Defects To UK'

Breaking News10:02pm UK, Wednesday March 30, 2011


Libya's Foreign Minister 'Defects To UK'

Libya's foreign minister has arrived in the UK after defecting from Colonel Gaddafi's regime, according to reports.

Questions were earlier raised about the whereabouts of Musa Kusa after he was reported by a Tunisian news agency to have headed to London on a flight from the country.

A Libyan government spokesman later said he had not defected and was on a "diplomatic mission", but declined to say where he was going.

Another report said one of his closest allies had confirmed he was in Britain seeking refuge.

Noman Benotman, a friend and analyst at Britain's Quilliam think-tank, told Reuters news agency: "He has defected from the regime.

"He wasn't happy at all. He doesn't support the Government attacks on civilians."

The British Foreign Office has declined to say whether it was aware of the development and Libya's deputy foreign minister dismissed the reports as "nonsense".

Meanwhile, there are reports CIA agents were authorised to carry out covert missions to help rebel forces keen to oust Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.

President Barack Obama is said to have signed an order - known as a "finding" - for the secret operations in the past two or three weeks.

It came to light after US officials spoke to reporters following a briefing with senior members of the Obama administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The CIA and the White House have declined to comment.

However, it emerged after Libya's rebel forces were forced out of the key oil town of Ras Lanuf by a barrage of tank and artillery fire from troops loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.

Anti-government fighters retreated by 100 miles in just a few hours as Nato planes bombarded Col Gaddafi's forces.

In the latest blow to morale for the outgunned insurgents, they have have been driven back from positions they had occupied in the past few days, including Bin Jawad.

Some fighters, mostly armed with light weapons and riding on 4x4 pick-ups, said they had been overwhelmed by the superior firepower and range of Gaddafi's weaponry.

Sky's security editor Sam Kiley said the rebels lost Ras Lanuf because the coalition was reluctant to carry out airstrikes on troops loyal to Col Gaddafi.

In Tripoli, Sky's Jeremy Thompson said Gaddafi supporters had been heard celebrating the dramatic reversal of fortune.

It came as UK Prime Minister David Cameron joined the US President in refusing to rule out the possibility of supplying arms to opposition fighters.

US Secretary of State has said no decision has been made about giving them weapons.

Vehicles packed with rebels have been seen racing east on Wednesday, just days after their push west - towards the capital Tripoli and Col Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte - gathered pace thanks to coalition airstrikes.

Meanwhile, five Libyan diplomats have been expelled from the UK.

Foreign Secretary William Haguesaid if the diplomats remained in the country they could "pose a threat" to security.

Sky sources say the five are regarded as the strongest supporters of the Libyan regime within the embassy.

Speaking in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Mr Cameron said a decision had not yet been made on supplying anti-regime forces with weapons.

However, he added that United Nations resolutions "would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances".

His announcement comes after Barack Obama made similar comments in a series of TV interviews.

The president earlier said he had already agreed to provide non-lethal aid like communications equipment, medical supplies and perhaps transportation to the opposition.

However, Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Sky News he does not believe the resolution will allow the coalition to arm rebels.

"The Security Council Resolution is very clear in my opinion," he said.

"It requests the enforcement of an arms embargo and actually Nato has decided to participate in the enforcement of the arms embargo. We are there to protect people not to arm people."


(The progress of the rebel front line, and the latest target of allied air strikes are key indicators of how this crisis is developing - but so too are the eyes and the quiet comments of the Gaddafi minders as they weigh up the potential consequences of their loyalties.

Read Sky producer Tom Rayner's blog from Tripoli)

On Tuesday the US officer in charge of the mission in Libya, Admiral James Stavridis, claimed there were "flickers" of al Qaeda and Hizbollah within the rebel opposition.

However, David Cameron's spokesman disagreed with this and said: "We are in the process of speaking to these people and learning more about their intentions.

"They set out their position very clearly and it did not suggest an extremist agenda."