The Gaddafi regime continues to face reports of high-level defections. A number of regime figures, including the head of Libya’s de facto parliament and a former prime minister, are said to have fled to neighboring Tunisia. Meanwhile, Libya’s former foreign minister, Ali Treki, said he had turned down a request to represent the Gaddafi regime at the United Nations. The Libyan government has apparently also asked Nicaragua’s former foreign minister, Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, to serve at the United Nations on its behalf, but there is confusion around whether the request has been formalized. The news follows the defection of Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, who is now in Britain after crossing over from Libya to Tunisia. A Gaddafi spokesperson confirmed Koussa’s defection but insisted the Libyan government remains intact.

Spokesperson: “They are here. They are doing their jobs. And if some of them left in the last few hours, maybe I did not hear about him leaving. You know, it would usually be on a mission. Because we try to negotiate with the world, our officials do travel daily, by the way, and they do come back daily, by the way.”