TRIPOLI: The Libyan government has named deputy minister for European affairs Abdelati Obeidi as its new top diplomat to replace Mussa Kussa who defected to the West last week, a senior foreign ministry official told AFP on Tuesday.”Mr Abdelati Obeidi is the new minister,” said deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim.A former prime minister who has held the foreign ministry portfolio before, Obeidi replaces Kussa, who headed Libya’s intelligence services from 1994 to 2009 and was regarded as a key confidant of Muammar Gaddafi before he quit and took refuge in Britain last week.Obeidi, who is 72 and from the east of the country, was ambassador to Turkey and Italy among other assignments in Libya’s diplomacy.As a deputy minister for European affairs he was involved in talks to normalise Libya’s …