THE GUARDIAN: UNITED NATIONS – Libya's deputy ambassador at the United Nations, surrounded by fellow diplomats, called Monday for Moammar Gadhafi to step down as the country's ruler.
"If he doesn't," deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi warned, "the Libyan people will get rid of him."
Dabbashi spoke as deep cracks appeared in Gadhafi's regime after more than 40 years in power, with a fire raging at the main government hall in the capital, Tripoli, and protesters calling for more demonstrations despite the government's deadly crackdown.
Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, went on state TV in the early hours Monday, vowing to fight and warning in a sometimes confused speech that if protests continue, a civil war will erupt in which Libya's oil wealth "will be burned."
Some diplomats abroad and the justice minister at home resigned.
But Dabbashi said the U.N. diplomats were not resigning because they served the people of Libya and not the regime. Libyan UN diplomats say Gadhafi should step down >>> Edith M. Lederer, AP foreign | Monday, February 21, 2011
