Tripoli, April 01: A senior Libyan official has announced that he is giving up his job as the regime of embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi is trembling at the highest levels.
Ali Abdessalam Treki, the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations, said in a statement on Thursday that he will not represent crisis-hit Libya at the UN, AP reported.
“We should not let our country fall into an unknown fate,” he said. “It is our nation’s right to live in freedom, democracy and a good life.”
Libya’s former Ambassador to the UN Abdel Rahman Shalgam and his deputy left their posts in early March after denouncing Gaddafi’s military repression of civilians and the deaths of more than 1,000 Libyans in the crackdown of anti-government protests.
Treki’s defection to the Libyan opposition has added to the woes of 68-year-old Gaddafi. On Wednesday, former Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa flew to England and told the British government he was resigning.
The report comes as Libya’s revolutionary forces have further advanced towards the capital Tripoli after gaining control of several areas previously held by forces loyal to Gaddafi.
This is while Gaddafi’s Mediterranean birthplace of Sirte, located 360 kilometers (225 miles) east of Tripoli, has been a major battle ground in the North African country over the past few days.
Opposition forces are now in control of the strategic oil town of Ajdabiyah, situated 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.
Gaddafi’s loyalists have recaptured the oil port of Ras Lanuf and the town of Ben Jawad in eastern Libya, and are on their way towards Brega.
Libyan anti-government forces, inspired by revolutions that toppled authoritarian rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, are fighting to unseat Gaddafi after suffering under his despotic rule for over 41 years.
——–Agencies