After recognise rebels Zimbabwe expel Libyan ambassador

"The Libyan ambassador and his staff decided to renounce their allegiance to the government of Colonel Qadhafi. This act deprives the Libyan ambassador and his staff of any diplomatic status in Zimbabwe because Zimbabwe does not recognise the TNC," Mumbengegwi told journalists.

"So it is in this context that the Libyan ambassador and his staff are required to leave Zimbabwe within the next 72 hours."

In a separate written statement, Mumbengegwi said Ambassador Taher Elmagrahi and staff would have just 48 hours to leave the country.

Officials did not immediately clarify which deadline would apply.

Zimbabwe, whose President Robert Mugabe has close ties to Qadhafi based on their shared anti-Western stance, has stood fast in its refusal to recognise the TNC even as the rebels have closed in on near-complete control over Libya.

At the height of a fuel crisis that threatened to bring Zimbabwe's economy to its knees, Qadhafi visited Zimbabwe and pledged to supply oil to the southern African country in exchange for land to grow tobacco.

Lovemore Madhuku, a political analyst at the University of Zimbabwe, said the envoy's expulsion was not surprising. "Zimbabwe has always stood by the Qadhafi regime and they will go to any length to support him," Madhuku said.

"They will fight with Qadhafi to the end, and the ambassador's expulsion is part of solidarity among African Union members." Elmagrahi last Wednesday led fellow Libyans in Harare in burning portraits of Qadhafi and lowering the green flag synonymous with his regime.

The embassy replaced the flag with that of the anti-Qadhafi rebellion, the red, black and green banner from independence in 1951.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011