Updated | Libyan ambassador bids farewell

Libyan ambassador to Malta Saadun Suayeh bade farewell to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi today, after resigning from his post "due to pressing health and family reasons".

Suayeh dispelled claims that he was made to resign his post after the Libyan transitional council, which ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a civil conflict, recalled him from his post.

"There was no pressure exerted upon me to leave my position. My health has been failing me and the time has come for me to go back to my academic life and my family," Suayeh told reporters.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi expressed his appreciation that the ambassador had proved himself to be "the ambassador of his people" while burdened with his function as an official diplomat of the Gaddafi regime during the Libya uprising. "I look forward to meet your successor. You have written the first page of a new book that your successor will continue upon," Gonzi said.

Gonzi praised Suayeh for his ability to place the people first while he still held his official position as ambassador to Libya: "The co-operation we found from your office while we were coordinating the evacuation from Libya was very important for us."

Suayeh admitted it had not been easy remaining an official ambassador to Libya while the Libyans were urging him to put down the green flag that symbolised the Gaddafi regime. "I've entered this office several times but the one thing that was always constant was the love in my heart towards the people of Libya and to be able to represent them and not the regime," Suayeh said.

He added that at times people misunderstood him, but Gonzi and Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg always knew where he stood. "What was left unsaid between us used to be the most important thing. With eye contact we used to understand each other.

"What I couldn't say in public to the Prime Minister, I used to say with an SMS. At the beginning of the revolution I used to tell him 'I salute your courage', and Gonzi would immediately understand what I meant," Suayeh said.

He remembered that when the revolution approached Tripoli, from Pennsylvania, US, Suayeh had called the embassy in Malta and told them to lower the green flag and put up the revolutionary flag. "They almost didn't believe me. The green flag had been up there simply as a façade," he said.

Suayeh added that Malta will always be in his heart.

Suayeh was the last diplomat to be appointed by the former Muammar Gaddafi regime, having spent the entire time during the civil conflict flying the Green flag atop the embassy. But in an interview with MaltaToday last August, shortly before the liberation of Tripoli by NTC forces, Suayeh had revealed his covert role in assisting the NTC. Suayeh had met with senior NTC leaders during a secret meeting held at the then French ambassador's residence in Zebbug.

During that meeting, the NTC leaders from Misurata were assisted to travel to Paris and meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who provided the NTC with all the necessary support for the final offensive on Tripoli that ousted Col. Gaddafi from his Bab Aziziya compound.

Suayeh's official resignation was announced three weeks after Italian media reported that he was to relinquish his post, reportedly being ordered by the interim government in Tripoli that he was to be changed. But in comments to MaltaToday, Suayeh had categorically denied the claims.