LONDON - The highest profile insider to break with Muammar Gadhafi's regime since Libya's conflict began warned that the country risked becoming engulfed in civil war like Somalia.

Ex-foreign minister Moussa Koussa, making his first public statement since he fled Tripoli, quit his post and arrived in Britain on March 30, called on Gadhafi and the country's opposition on Monday to show restraint.

"I ask everybody, all the parties, to work to avoid taking Libya into a civil war. This will lead to bloodshed and make Libya a new Somalia," said Koussa, who has spent almost two weeks at an undisclosed location in interviews with British intelligence officers and diplomats.

AP