'Die, Gadhafi': Libya's embassies abroad defect

[August 24, 2011]  MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Libyan diplomats and students smashed portraits of Moammar Gadhafi, shouted "Game over!" and raised the rebel flag at their Manila embassy Wednesday as part of defections against the leader at Libya's missions worldwide.

As rebels stormed the Libyan capital and Gadhafi's power and influence abroad crumbled, Libyan consul Faraj Zarroug in Philippine capital said about 85 percent of his country's 165 diplomatic missions around the globe now recognized the interim rebel government, the National Transitional Council.

"It's game over for Mr. Gadhafi!," Zarroug told The Associated Press. "Probably in a few days, everything will be over, hopefully. I'm very happy."

Libyan diplomats abroad have been pledging allegiance to the rebels in a gradual, months-long trend, but there appeared to be an upsurge in defections this week. The missions to Switzerland and Bangladesh, for example, switched early after the crisis erupted nearly six months ago, and Libyan embassy officials in Japan and Ethiopia replaced the government flag with the rebel's tricolor on Monday.

A spokesman for the rebels in Dubai, Edward Marques, said Wednesday that the defections had turned into a "cascade," but declined to list the locations of rebel supporters. The Libyan government could no longer be reached for comment.

"The situation is very, very fluid," Marques said.

At the Manila mission, diplomats in business suits pulled down Gadhafi's green flag and raised the rebel one, while young expatriates rampaged through the compound.

AP journalists were invited in to watch and film them smashing glass portraits and ripping up copies of Gadhafi's slogan-filled Green Book outlining his political philosophy.

Students spat on the ripped pages, and shouted "Die, Gadhafi, Die!" or "Leave, Ghadafi, Leave!" or "Game over!"

"We can say what we want. No one can stop us!" said Mahmoud Binhafa, a 29-year-old student who was nearly breathless with excitement. "We want like, you know, freedom to be happy, to say whatever we want."

Meanwhile in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, a defiant Gadhafi vowed in a broadcast to fight on "until victory or martyrdom" and called on residents and loyal tribesmen across his North African nation to free the country from the "devils and traitors" who have overrun it.

The Libyan leader's whereabouts were unknown Wednesday, a day after hundreds of rebels stormed his Bab al-Aziziya fortress-like compound in the capital. They had poured into Tripoli on Monday in a stunning breakthrough in the conflict.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Libyan ambassador to the African Union, Ali Awidan, said he raised the new rebel flag Monday, changing sides at the last moment.

"I was not serving Gadhafi, I have been serving Libya," he said.

[Associated Press; By JIM GOMEZ]

Associated Press writers Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Frank Jordans in Geneva, Luc Van Kemenade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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