The highest-profile insider to break with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s regime since Libya’s conflict began warned that the country risked becoming engulfed in civil war like Somalia.
Former Libyan foreign minister Mussa Kussa, making his first public statement since he fled Tripoli, quit his post and arrived in Britain on March 30, called on Qaddafi and the country’s opposition on Monday to show restraint.
“I ask everybody, all the parties, to work to avoid taking Libya into a civil war. This will lead to bloodshed and make Libya a new Somalia,” said Kussa, who has spent almost two weeks at an undisclosed location in interviews with British intelligence officers and diplomats.
Britain’s Foreign Office said Kussa is not being detained by authorities, but have repeatedly declined to discuss the details of his debriefings or comment on his whereabouts.
The former Qaddafi loyalist read a prepared statement to the BBC’s Arabic language television channel and did not take any questions. The BBC did not disclose where it had filmed Kussa.
Kussa did not make any explicit criticism of Qaddafi, but said he had quit after he became increasingly concerned over recent events. He confirmed he now has no contact with the dictator’s Tripoli regime.
“My country lives in a difficult time. It’s the worst. When the Libyans started to lose security and stability I decided to resign,” Kussa said.
Also a former Libyan intelligence chief, Kussa said that for more than 30 years he had been devoted to his work for Qaddafi and confident he had been serving the Libyan public.
“But after recent events, things changed and I couldn’t continue. That’s why I took this decision. Not because I’m waiting for anything, but because I know that what I did to resign will cause me problems, but I’m ready to make that sacrifice for the sake of my country,” Kussa said.
He rejected suggestions of dividing Libya between the rebel-held east and Qaddafi’s strongholds in the country’s west, calling instead for talks between the regime and opposition.
“We refuse to divide Libya. The unity of Libya is essential to any solution and any settlement in Libya,” Kussa said, according to a translation provided by the BBC. “The solution in Libya will come from the Libyans themselves, through discussion and democratic dialogue.”
Kussa also called on the UN to help deliver food, medicine and aid to the Libyan people.
“We hope the Security Council will take a humanitarian responsibility,” he said.
FRENCH OFFICIAL
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said yesterday NATO is not doing enough to protect civilians in Libya and should destroy more heavy weapons around the besieged city of Misrata.
An African Union plan to halt Libya’s civil war collapsed on Monday, and rebels said the increasingly bloody six-week siege of the city of Misrata by Qaddafi’s troops made talk of a ceasefire meaningless.
“NATO must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations, we accepted that,” Juppe told France Info radio ahead of traveling to Doha yesterday for a Libya contact group meeting. “It must play its role today which means preventing Qaddafi from using heavy weapons to shell [civilian] populations.”
When asked if NATO was doing enough Juppe responded: “It’s not enough.”
He said NATO should destroy heavy weapons that are bombarding Misrata.
Juppe said he would raise the matter in Luxembourg yesterday where EU foreign ministers are to meet and later in the week at a gathering of NATO foreign ministers.
“We need a major effort on humanitarian aid,” he said.
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