Bulgaria Expels All Gaddafi Appointed Libyan Diplomats

Politics » DIPLOMACY | September 2, 2011, Friday // 11:30
Bulgaria Expels All Gaddafi Appointed Libyan Diplomats: Bulgaria Expels All Gaddafi Appointed Libyan Diplomats The Foreign Affairs Ministry building in downtown Sofia. File photo

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has declared all Libyan diplomats in Bulgaria personas non-grata and has given them 24 hours to leave the country.

The news was reported Friday by the Bulgarian 24 Chassa (24 Hours) daily.

The nota, presented to the Libyan Embassy in person by the Head of the Arab Affaires Department at the Ministry, Alexander Olshevski, includes all diplomats accredited in Bulgaria by the regime of troubled Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi – the former Charge d'Affaires, Mohamed Milad, the political secretary, Mohamed Selini, financial expert, Abdelfatah Stuka, and the file clerk, Nadjia Ftif.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry bases its decision on the fact that on August 25th Bulgaria officially recognized the opposition to Gaddafi rebel Transitional National Council (NTC) as the only legitimate power in the country while the diplomats have been sent by the dictator's regime, now considered unlawful.

The other reason is the fact NTC is sending from Tripoli a new Ambassador in Sofia – Issa Omar Ashur, who had previously served as Libyan Ambassador in Somalia. Ashur is arriving in Bulgaria Friday.

Ibrahim al-Furis, Adviser on Consular Affairs, who at the end of July led a group of employees of the Libyan Embassy in Sofia in attacking the building, taking down the symbols of the Gaddafi regime, gaining control of the cash box and the stamp of the Diplomatic Representation and temporarily detaining the interim head of the Embassy, prompting Bulgarian authorities to declare him persona non-grata and ask him to leave the country, has been redirected to the immigration services. al-Furis had asked for refugee status, citing humanitarian reasons.

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Tags: Issa Omar Ashur, Ibrahim al-Furis, Vienna Convention, persona non-grata, Foreign Affairs Ministry, consul, embassy, Gaddafi, rebels, Libya, NTC, regime, diplomats, Libyan, Muammar Gaddafi, expels, Bulgaria

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