5 Libyan diplomats expelled from Canada
A Libyan rebel mans a heavy machine gun at a checkpoint the outskirts of eastern rebel-held city of Ajdabiya on May 17, 2011.
Photograph by: Saeed Khan, AFP/Getty Images
The Canadian government has expelled five diplomats working at the Libyan Embassy in Ottawa, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday.
"The activities carried out in Canada by the five Libyan diplomats are considered inappropriate and inconsistent with normal diplomatic functions," said a release from the department.
The release does not offer any details of the "inappropriate and inconsistent" activity in question.
Lisa Monette, a spokeswoman with Foreign Affairs, said in an email that she could not comment on state-to-state communications.
"I am therefore not in a position to provide further information as to these activities," she said.
The statement goes on to say that Canada has not severed diplomatic relations with Libya, but operations at the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli have been suspended.
The Libyan Embassy in Ottawa remains open.
The government said the five diplomats and their families must now arrange to leave Canada immediately.
Arjun Chowdhury, a political-science professor at the University of British Columbia, called the wording of the statement vague but added that diplomats are generally sent home for espionage.
"Normally when diplomats are expelled, it's for spying," he said. "That's usually what happens under diplomatic procedure."
At the end of March, the CBC reported that some Libyan students in Canada who had spoken out against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's regime had received threatening phone calls that they believed came from diplomatic staff.
Last week, pro- and anti-Gadhafi demonstrators squared off in downtown Ottawa roughly two blocks from Parliament Hill.
The anti-Gadhafi side outnumbered the pro-Gadhafi, anti-NATO side of fewer than 20 people by about three to one.
Men, women and children chanted songs and carried Libyan rebel flags and posters calling Gadhafi a war criminal. The larger group drowned out the chants from the pro-Gadhafi side, which carried the green flags that have symbolized Libya in the Gadhafi era and two large pictures of the leader himself.
Police did their best to keep both sides apart, but one RCMP officer was hurt during a skirmish when the demonstration first got under way.
Canada is not the only country to have expelled Libyan diplomats since the beginning of Gadhafi's brutal crackdown on rebels.
Earlier this month, France sent 14 Libyan diplomats home, while Britain declared two diplomats persona non grata and ordered them to leave the country.
The French foreign ministry said it no longer recognized the staffers' diplomatic status, accusing them of "activities incompatible with the relevant UN resolutions . . . and contrary to the protection of Libyan civilians."
An unnamed French diplomat said the decision to expel them was taken some time ago, but "there was a process to follow."
"Many of these people were using their status as diplomats as a cover," the diplomat said.
The British government said only that the behaviour of the diplomats had become "unacceptable."
Canada, along with Britain and France, is part of a NATO-led mission to protect civilians and support rebel forces in their bid to oust Gadhafi.
With a file from Reuters
"The activities carried out in Canada by the five Libyan diplomats are considered inappropriate and inconsistent with normal diplomatic functions," said a release from the department.
The release does not offer any details of the "inappropriate and inconsistent" activity in question.
Lisa Monette, a spokeswoman with Foreign Affairs, said in an email that she could not comment on state-to-state communications.
"I am therefore not in a position to provide further information as to these activities," she said.
The statement goes on to say that Canada has not severed diplomatic relations with Libya, but operations at the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli have been suspended.
The Libyan Embassy in Ottawa remains open.
The government said the five diplomats and their families must now arrange to leave Canada immediately.
Arjun Chowdhury, a political-science professor at the University of British Columbia, called the wording of the statement vague but added that diplomats are generally sent home for espionage.
"Normally when diplomats are expelled, it's for spying," he said. "That's usually what happens under diplomatic procedure."
At the end of March, the CBC reported that some Libyan students in Canada who had spoken out against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's regime had received threatening phone calls that they believed came from diplomatic staff.
Last week, pro- and anti-Gadhafi demonstrators squared off in downtown Ottawa roughly two blocks from Parliament Hill.
The anti-Gadhafi side outnumbered the pro-Gadhafi, anti-NATO side of fewer than 20 people by about three to one.
Men, women and children chanted songs and carried Libyan rebel flags and posters calling Gadhafi a war criminal. The larger group drowned out the chants from the pro-Gadhafi side, which carried the green flags that have symbolized Libya in the Gadhafi era and two large pictures of the leader himself.
Police did their best to keep both sides apart, but one RCMP officer was hurt during a skirmish when the demonstration first got under way.
Canada is not the only country to have expelled Libyan diplomats since the beginning of Gadhafi's brutal crackdown on rebels.
Earlier this month, France sent 14 Libyan diplomats home, while Britain declared two diplomats persona non grata and ordered them to leave the country.
The French foreign ministry said it no longer recognized the staffers' diplomatic status, accusing them of "activities incompatible with the relevant UN resolutions . . . and contrary to the protection of Libyan civilians."
An unnamed French diplomat said the decision to expel them was taken some time ago, but "there was a process to follow."
"Many of these people were using their status as diplomats as a cover," the diplomat said.
The British government said only that the behaviour of the diplomats had become "unacceptable."
Canada, along with Britain and France, is part of a NATO-led mission to protect civilians and support rebel forces in their bid to oust Gadhafi.
With a file from Reuters
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