Five Libyan Generals, Three Officers Defect

Five Libyan generals, three officers, and more than 100 members of the army have defected from Moammar Gadhafi’s regime over the past several days, according to a news conference held by some high level defectors held in Rome on Monday.

The Italian government hosted the news conference for the five generals, two colonels and a major, reported The Associated Press. Defected Gen. Melud Massoud Halasa said that Gadhafi’s forces are not nearly as efficient as before fighting with the rebels began. He added that there are only around 10 generals serving under him.

“He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting, or deserting,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Bulgaria, without making specific reference to the defecting generals and army members.

The eight officers said they defected because Gadhafi’s actions were responsible for the deaths of Libyan civilians and violence toward women, reported Reuters.

They also said that Gadhafi’s forces are rapidly losing steam against rebel forces in the east.

Gen. On Ali On read an appeal to security forces and members of the army to defect or abandon the regime “in the name of the martyrs who have fallen in the defense of freedom to have the courage,” according to AP. He said too that Gadhafi was essentially conducting “genocide” against his own people.

A number of Libyan officials and allies of Gadhafi have stepped down amid the conflict. Two former Libyan foreign ministers, Moussa Koussa and Ali Abdessalam Treki, defected in March. Recently, there were reports that oil minister Shukri Ghanem defected and is currently in Tunisia.

NATO, in recent weeks, has also continued conducting airstrikes on Libyan command and control centers inside the capital, Tripoli, in an attempt to increase pressure on Gadhafi. The international coalition says it is conducting the strikes to carry out its mission of protecting the lives of civilians.