The defection of Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa is a further sign that the regime of Moamer Gaddafi is "crumbling from within", British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday, dpa reported.
He confirmed that Kusa, who arrived at an airport outside London from Tunisia late Wednesday, had over the past weeks been a crucial figure in maintaining a channel of communication with the Gaddafi regime.
However, Hague said Britain would not offer the former close ally of Gaddafi any "immunity from British or international justice."
The defection showed that the Gaddafi regime was "fragmented, under pressure and crumbling from within."
Kusa had come to Britain under "his own free will" and was in talks with the British authorities, said Hague. Further details would be released later.
Hague urged other followers of Gaddafi to abandon the Libyan leader. He also demanded access to Libya for representatives of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and other human rights organizations.
Gaddafi should be aware that "the day of reckoning" would come, said Hague.
Earlier, former British foreign secretary Jack Straw said Kusa had been of "fundamental importance" in Britain's relations with Libya over the years.
Before becoming foreign minister in 2009, Kusa was head of Libya's foreign intelligence service from 1994.
Straw said Kusa had been instrumental in Britain's negotiations with the Gaddafi regime over Libya's renunciation of nuclear and chemical weapons in 2003, conducted by former prime minister Tony Blair, which eventually led to Libya's return to the international fold.