[Ennahar] Several Libyan diplomats and politicians have resigned their posts or voiced their opposition to the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in their country. Here are some more details:* Denotes new or updated entry:
ARAB LEAGUE: The Libyan delegation to the vaporous Arab League in Cairo on Friday abandoned Qadaffy, condemning "the heinous crimes against unarmed citizens."
AUSTRALIA: Omran Zwed, the Libyan mission's cultural counselor, speaking in front of the embassy, told a small band of emotionally charged Libyan protesters: "We represent the Libyan people and no longer the Libyan regime."
AUSTRIA: The Libyan embassy in Austria, in an unsigned statement on Wednesday, "confirms that it represents the Libyan people and wishes to express its deepest condolences to the families of the victims. The embassy condemns the use of excessive violence against peaceful demonstrators and calls on the global community to adhere to its obligation to protect the civilian population and put into place concrete measures to avoid further victims."
It was not clear if ambassador Ahmed Menesi had resigned.
BANGLADESH: Ahmed A.H. Elimam, Libya's ambassador in Dhaka has resigned, Bangladeshi media reports said, quoting Foreign Ministry officials.
CHINA: A senior Libyan diplomat in Beijing, Hussein Sadiq al Musrati, resigned during an interview with al Jazeera and later called on Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy to step down and leave the country.
EGYPT: Staff at the Libyan consulate in the Egyptian city of Alexandria lowered the Libyan flag and joined protesters nearby urging those inside to renounce their allegiance to Qadaffy. "Resign and join the honorable diplomats who have turned against the killer Qadaffy or else the Libyan youth will break into the consulate and stage a sit-in," a protester shouted.
FRANCE: Tripoli's ambassador to La Belle France, Mohamed Salaheddine Zarem, and its ambassador to UNESCO, Abdoulsalam El Qallali, resigned on February 25 in response to the revolt against Qadaffy, a Libyan official said.
Both had offered a statement on February 22 saying: "We announce to the people of Libya, the Arab world and the international community our support for the people in its revolt against the machine of oppression and aggression."
INDIA: The entire staff of Libya's embassy in New Delhi renounced ties with Qadaffy's government on February 25, al Jazeera reported. "We at the Libyan embassy represent the Libyan people and do not represent the former regime. We're fully aligned to the people's revolution," a statement from the embassy was quoted as saying.
Ali al-Essawi, Libya's ambassador to India resigned his post last weekend in protest at the violent crackdown.
INDONESIA: Salaheddin El Bishari, Libya's ambassador in Indonesia, resigned on February 22, media reports said Wednesday.
JORDAN: Mohammed Al-Barghathi, Libya's ambassador to Jordan said on February 24 he left his post and called for the overthrow of Qadaffy.
* LIBYA: In Libya, prosecutor-general Abdul-Rahman al-Abbar became the latest bigwig to resign and told al Arabiya television on February 25 he was joining the opposition
Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al Abidi has resigned in protest and Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil resigned on February 21 over "the excessive use of violence against protesters," Libya's privately owned Quryna newspaper reported.
-- Ajleil has led the formation of an interim government based in the eastern city of Benghazi, Quryna reported on February 26.
-- Youssef Sawani, a senior aide to Saif al-Islam Qadaffy, a son of the Libyan leader, resigned on February 20.
-- On February 21, Nuri al-Mismari -- who has been at Qadaffy's side for almost 40 years although he left Libya in late 2010 to undergo heart surgery in La Belle France -- resigned from his post as chief of state protocol in Libya. Al-Mismari was jugged in La Belle FranceLibya, which wants to try him for embezzlement, but he said he had not been removed from his post and has remained in contact with the Qadaffy administration. in November 2010 at the request of
MALAYSIA: Libya's embassy in Malaysia called Qadaffy's crackdown on protesters "barbaric and criminal" after the mission in Kuala Lumpur was briefly occupied by around 200 protesters. Protesters smashed a portrait of Qadaffy and hauled down the country's flag to replace it with what they said was a pre-Qadaffy flag. Osama Ahmed, a counselor at the embassy, told Rooters that the ambassador would remain in place to help around 5,000 Libyans living in Malaysia.
* UNITED NATIONS: Libyan Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi and most other diplomats at Libya's U.N. mission announced on February 21 they were no longer working for the Qadaffy government and represented the country's people. They called for Qadaffy's overthrow.
On Saturday Dabbashi, said that his delegation supported "in principle" Abud Ajleil's caretaker government in Libya.
-- "In principle we support this government," Dabbashi told Rooters. "We are seeking more information about it, but yes, I think we support it."
-- A day earlier, on February 25, Libyan U.N. Ambassador Abdurrahman Shalgham, Libya's U.N. ambassador, a former Libyan foreign minister who did not associate himself with a statement denouncing Qadaffy earlier this week, joined Dabbashi in condemning him in an impassioned speech to the council. -- Adel Shaltut, a diplomat at Libya's delegation to the U.N. in Geneva, also said on Friday that his entire delegation now represented the "free will" of the Libyan people.
* UNITED STATES: Libya's ambassador to the United States called on Washington to speak up strongly in defense of the Libyan people, saying it is time to get rid of Qadaffy's government. Ambassador Ali Aujali told ABC's "Good Morning America" on February 22 that he no longer represented his country's government and called on Qadaffy to step aside to avoid further bloodshed.
-- On Saturday, Aujali threw his weight behind a caretaker government formed by former Libyan justice minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Ajleil.
OTHER DEFECTIONS:
-- Two Libyan Air Force fighter pilots defected on Monday and flew their jets to Malta where they told authorities they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Maltese government officials said. They said the two pilots, both colonels, took off from a base near Tripoli. One of them has requested political asylum.