Bulgaria Expels Libyan Diplomat

A Libyan diplomat in Bulgaria has been declared "persona non grata" and will have to leave the country within 24 hours, the foreign ministry announced Monday.

It did not say however why the consular adviser, Ibrahim al-Furis, was being asked to leave.

"A note ... stating that the embassy's adviser for consular affairs Ibrahim al-Furis has been declared 'persona non grata' was handed to the Libyan charge d'affaires," foreign ministry spokeswoman Vesela Cherneva told Agence France Presse.

"He must leave the country within 24 hours," she added.

Under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, any state can declare another's representative "persona non grata" without having to justify its decision.

Bulgaria, which has several thousand nationals working in Libya, recognized last month the rebel-led National Transitional Council as "a legitimate representative of the Libyan people."

It refrained however from recognizing the rebels as the sole representative in the conflict-torn country.