Reply #114: Libyan Diplomat Takes On A New, Yet Familiar, Role

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Source: NPR

by Michele Kelemen

July 27, 2011


Now that the U.S. has recognized the rebel government in Libya, the Transitional National Council, as it is known, wants access to the country's frozen assets. The rebel representative in Washington, D.C., also wants his office back; until earlier this year, Ali Aujali was the Libyan ambassador, but he hasn't been able to get back into his office for months.


Aujali gave up many of the perks of diplomatic life when he broke from Moammar Gadhafi's regime. The embassy was closed and its bank accounts frozen. Aujali lost his diplomatic credentials and couldn't pay some of his staff or drivers, but those are the least of his worries.


"Yeah, we are OK, I can't complain," Aujali says. "People are dying in Libya, and I can't complain if I don't have the same, you know, facilities I used to have. I have to wait for a taxi to get picked up, for example, which sometimes is not always available. I have no driver; I used to have one."


And he hasn't been able to get into the embassy at the Watergate since April. But Aujali is more optimistic about that, now that the U.S. has recognized the Transitional National Council as the legitimate government of Libya.

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MORE (plus audio will be available at approx. 9am ET):
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/27/138610081/libyan-diplomat-takes-on-a-new-yet-familiar-role