Libyan diplomats change sides at U.N. rights forum

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Reuters

GENEVA — A Libyan U.N. envoy to the U.N. renounced links to the government of Muammar Gaddafi on Friday, telling the U.N. Human Rights Council that his entire delegation represented the "free will" of the Libyan people.

Diplomats in the hall erupted into applause at the surprise announcement by Adel Shaltut, a diplomat at the Libyan delegation to the United Nations in Geneva, during a special session on the Libyan crisis.

"We in the Libyan mission have categorically decided to serve as representatives of the Libyan people and their free will. We only represent the Libyan people," he declared.

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