My resignation is because of the massive violence against civilians in my countryNew Delhi (ANTARA News/AFP) - Libya`s ambassador to India told AFP Tuesday he had quit because of "massive" and "unacceptable" violence against civilians that included the bombing of demonstrators by the air force.
"My resignation is because of the massive violence against civilians in my country," Ali al-Essawi told AFP by telephone. "Yesterday they started to use airplanes to bomb civilians demonstrating peacefully. This is unacceptable."
He called on the international community and UN Security Council members meeting in New York later Tuesday to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya similar to the one imposed in 1991 on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War.
"The international community has to intervene to protect Libyans," he said.
The ambassador, who first announced his resignation to the BBC Arabic service on Monday, said the regime of Moamer Kadhafi had lost all legitimacy and would eventually fall.
"It is a matter of time," he said. "What we want to do is reduce the cost." Essawi, a former trade and investment minister who also served in Libya`s export promotion agency, said he did not know what he would do after handing in his resignation.
"Right now I am concentrating on saving my people and raising this issue, the massive killing," he said. "I don`t think about myself, my family, my personal protection."
He said he had arrived in New Delhi as ambassador last October.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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