Libya's Harare ambassador defects to rebels

Libya's Ambassador to Zimbabwe Taher Elmagrahi has defected to the NATO-backed rebels, local media reported on Thursday. The ambassador on Wednesday led fellow Libyans in burning the all-green Libyan flag and replacing it with the green, black and red-colored flag of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), whose forces stormed Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli the previous day. On the same day, Elmagrahi wrote to the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcing his decision to defect. The Zimbabwean government immediately told him he was no longer welcome in the country as Zimbabwe did not recognize the NTC. "If they have defected, then they do not have any business to do here. We do not recognize that government (NTC)," Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Joey Bimha was quoted as saying by the Herald. In response to a question why he had chosen that path, the ambassador said, "I represent all Libyans. I follow what they want. When they are like this, I follow them, I follow what they chose." The newspaper reported that scores of Libyans residing in Zimbabwe gathered at the embassy where they waved the rebel flag and chanted slogans: "To Hell with Gaddafi, Gaddafi must die, Libya is Free and Gaddafi has expired." Zimbabwe and South Africa have refused to recognize the NTC.