ITALY: Libyan Oil Minister, Shokri Ghanem, whose whereabouts have been unknown for several days, appears in Rome and announces defection

Record ID: 343673

  • Title: ITALY: Libyan Oil Minister, Shokri Ghanem, whose whereabouts have been unknown for several days, appears in Rome and announces defection
  • Date: 2nd June 2011
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (JUNE 1 , 2011) (REUTERS) FORMER LIBYAN OIL MINISTER SHOKRI GHANEM ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE GHANEM PREPARING TO SPEAK AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) GHANEM SAYING: "Ladies and gentlemen as you know I have been working in Libya for so many years believing that we can make a lot of reform from within. Unfortunately this became not possible, espe
  • Embargoed: 17th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA68V3MRDHWAKQQ5IE7L0K0V4Y0
  • Story Text: Libya's National Oil Corp head Shokri Ghanem said on Wednesday (June 1) he had defected from Muammar Gaddafi's regime but had not yet decided whether to join anti-Gaddafi rebels.
    Speaking at a news conference in Rome organised by the Libyan ambassador, who has also defected, Ghanem said he had left his job because of the "unbearable" violence in Libya.
    "With this situation which is unbearable, one cannot continue working and therefore I left the country and I decided also to leave my job and to join the choice of the Libyan youth to create a modern constitutional state, respecting the human rights and building for a better future for all Libyans," he told a small group of journalists reading from a prepared statement.
    Ghanem, whose whereabouts had been unknown for several days, also said oil production in Libya is coming to a halt because of the international embargo.
    "Well of course the whole situation because of what happened and the embargo by the United Nations and the foreign workers left and the security and so it is almost coming to a halt. On both sides, both sides," he said.
    Ghanem, who is one of the most senior Libyan officials to have defected, said he still saw some possibility of a peaceful settlement to decide the fate of the Gaddafi regime, which he had left because of the "daily spilling of blood" he had witnessed in Libya.
    "Well we have to wait and see, there are so many possibilities including that their could be a peaceful solution. We look for a peaceful settlement, that would satisfy everyone," he told Reuters.
    He added that in future he would not be representing Libya at OPEC, where he is usually the leader of the country's delegation.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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