The Libyan deputy ambassador to the United Nations has called on the country's ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, to step down and face trial over war crimes and genocide.

　　"He has to leave as soon as possible. He has to stop killing the Libyan people," Ibrahim Dabbashi told CNN on Monday.

　　"The Libyan people have been patient enough for the last 42 years and I think he has to give up and he has to leave the country as soon as possible," Dabbashi added.

　　Speaking to the state-funded BBC, the Libyan official also said, "I think it is the end of Colonel Gaddafi, it is a matter of days, whether he steps down or the Libyan people will get rid of him anyway.”

　　"Certainly the best scenario is to have him before the court, to prosecute him and to know from him everything about the crimes he committed before…or the genocide he is committing now or the disappearance of certain important personalities... and all the other crimes he has committed during the 42 years in power,” he went on to say.

　　The Libyan mission staff at the United Nations has already written a letter, calling on Gaddafi to renounce power, Dabbashi said.

　　"I call on all countries of the world also to not permit Gaddafi to escape inside their territories and I call on them to watch carefully any amount of money which may be flown outside of Libya," he urged.

　　The International Federation for Human Rights said earlier that as many as 400 freedom protesters have so far been killed in the popular Libyan revolution.

　　PHOTO CAPTION

　　Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

　　Source: Agencies