Moussa Koussa given the cold shoulder by rebels
Moussa Koussa, the Libyan defector currently in Britain, has told intermediaries he wants to join the rebels but they have rejected his overtures, the Daily Telegraph has learned.
Mr Koussa, who is currently being debriefed by MI6, is keen to join the ranks of former officials from the government of Col Muammar Gaddafi who have switched sides, security sources say.
He is also thought to have received private medical treatment in Britain since his arrival last week.
Mr Koussa is said to have been in touch with Abdel Rahman Shalgham, the former Libyan ambassador to the United Nations.
However Mahmoud Shammam, a spokesman for the Interim Transitional National Council told the Daily Telegraph there had been no direct contact and added: “I don’t think the council is ready to deal with him.”
He said that Mr Shagham had not tried to mediate or to convince the council to accept Mr Koussa.
“Koussa comes with heavy baggage on human rights issues. He was involved in many crimes in Libya as director of intelligence,” Mr Shammam added, speaking from Doha.
“I cannot answer what may happen in the future but nobody has approached us on his behalf officially.
“We understand he is being efficiently debriefed and we hope he has offered good information.
“We want officials to leave the Gaddafi regime, but that does not mean they can become involved in the revolution.”
Guma el-Gamaty, a British-based spokesman for the council, said the idea of Mr Koussa as a revolutionary leader was a “non-starter” because he was “too hated and has too much blood on his hands.”
He said the council had already received criticism in some quarters for accepting Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Col Gaddafi’s former justice minister, as a member.
Another controversial defector has been Abdul Fatah Younis, a former interior minister for Gaddafi who is serving as the rebels’ chief of staff.
Details of the impasse emerged as Fathi Ben Shatwan, a former energy minister for Col Gaddafi, told him he had “no future.”
Mr Ben Shatwan made a dramatic escape from the besieged city of Misrata under fire from government troops, arriving in Malta by boat on Friday after a 20-hour journey.
"I will help the opposition in any way I can," he said in an interview.
He also warned that Gaddafi still had billions of dollars hidden away.
"There's a lot of other money hidden,” he said. “Billions. They have the means of using other names. There are a lot of tricks.”
Mr Ben Shatwan said other government figures are willing to leave Gaddafi but are still too scared to do so.
"None of the ministers are with the regime. They would like to do like Mussa Kussa but they can't because of their families. They are frightened."
On top of issues raised by the International Criminal Court, Mr Koussa faces questions on Friday from Scottish prosecutors involved in investigating the Lockerbie bombing and could also face legal action from victims of the IRA, which was supplied with arms by Libya.
