There are unconfirmed reports that more people have left the inner circle of Muammar Gaddafi following the high level desertion of Libya’s foreign minister Moussa Koussa

There are unconfirmed reports that more people have left the inner circle of Muammar Gaddafi following the high level desertion of Libya's foreign minister Moussa Koussa on Wednesday.

It is reported that a group of top officials who had headed to Tunisia for talks have decided to stay there.

Some Arabic newspapers said the head of Libya's Popular Committee Mohammad Abu Al Qassim Al Zawi, the country’s equivalent of a parliament, is among the defectors, and reports of other defections, such as that of top oil official Shokri Ghanem, remain unconfirmed.

Shokri issued a statement on Thursday denying his defection, telling Reuters news agency that he was speaking to them from his office.

And on Thursday, a second top official confirmed that he would not serve in Gaddfai's regime.

Ali Abdessalam Treki, a former foreign minister and UN general assembly president, had been named to represent Libya at the UN after a wave of defections early in the uprising.

Treki, who is currently in Cairo, said in a statement posted on several opposition websites that he was not going to accept that job or any other.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi has struck a defiant stance, saying he's not the one who should go - it's the Western leaders who have decimated his military with airstrikes who should resign immediately.

Many Libyan government figures have resigned since the uprising against Gaddafi began on February 15.

Interior minister Abdel Fattah Younis and justice minister Mustafa Mohamed al-Jalil have both left, as have numerous ambassadors around the world.

Most high-level Libyan officials are trying to defect but are under tight security and having difficulty leaving the country, a top Libyan diplomat now supporting the opposition said on Thursday.