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Libyan Ambassador to Malta Saadun Suayeh is retaining his official position for the time being but insists his future on the island will be determined by the Transitional National Council.
“If they are happy with me and would like me to continue throughout the transition it will be an honour for me but if they believe otherwise, I will be more than glad to resign and go back to my academic life,” Dr Suayeh told The Times yesterday, hours after authorising the three-coloured independence flag to be hoisted at the embassy in Balzan.
In a telephone interview from the UK, Dr Suayeh acknowledged that he felt “personally liberated” by the news that Tripoli had fallen after enduring months of “pressure” from various quarters. Dr Suayeh is expected back at the embassy tomorrow.
Yesterday morning, in an official statement, the embassy said it fully recognised the TNC as Libya’s legitimate government.
Shedding light on the tense situation before the regime crumbled, Dr Suayeh admitted having a low-key meeting with TNC officials in Malta on a previous occasion.
“There was previous contact with the TNC which I did not declare for tactical and security reasons. They seemed happy with the way I was helping things behind the scenes and today I feel personally liberated.”
Last month Dr Suayeh rejected repeated calls for his resignation and also denied being in contact with the transitional council as the Libyan green flag, synonymous with Muammar Gaddafi, continued to flutter on the embassy roof. Describing this as a moment of “overwhelming joy”, Dr Suayeh said that deep down he was always on the side of the people and their “legitimate struggle for democracy”.
“I have no reservations but to say this is a great, historic moment for the Libyan people. It represents good riddance...,” he said, without completing the sentence.
Throughout the crisis Dr Suayeh constantly maintained that the embassy represented the Libyan people and not the regime, in what he yesterday admitted was diplomatic language that best served the cause.
Asked what future lay ahead for his country, Dr Suayeh said he would like to see a democratic Libya where civil society was strong and where freedom was respected.
In the aftermath of a bloody six-month conflict and after 42 years of dictatorial rule, however, the post-Gaddafi Libya risks descending into a spiral of violence if people seek vengeance for the suffering they endured.
It is this fear that Dr Suayeh believes should be addressed and called on his fellow citizens to be patient.
“I do not wish Libya to slip into vengeance and if somebody did wrong under the Gaddafi regime we don’t have the right to take the law into our own hands,” he said, insisting that justice had to be done in a court of law.