Zimbabwe Friday threatened to throw out Libyan Ambassador Taher Elmagrahi from the country, a day after he announced his defection from the government to the rebel side.

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Libya-Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe Friday threatened to throw out Libyan Ambassador Taher Elmagrahi from the country, a day after he announced his defection from the government to the rebel side. Zimbabwe has strong ties to embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and has harshly criticised the rebels and their Western allies for the ongoing war in the north African country.

Elmagrahi, Libya's long-serving Ambassador to Zimbabwe, announced Thursday he had defected from the government to the rebel side.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Joey Bimha said Zimbabwe did not recognise the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), and therefore Elmagrahi had thrown himself out of a job in the country by defecting.

'(The) NTC is not accredited to Harare. If they say now they recognise the NTC, it means they are no longer representing the interests of the Libyan government in Zimbabwe,' he said.

Elmagrahi wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about his defection, and pulled the Libyan green flag and replaced it with that of the rebels.

The government said it did not recognise the rebels, and threatened to throw Elmagrahi and his staff out of the country.