Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. UN Security Council to Hold Session on Libya Violence Margaret Besheer | New York February 22, 2011 Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador at the United Nations, speaks to reporters at the entrance to the Libyan Mission in New York February 21, 2011 Photo: AP Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador at the United Nations, speaks to reporters at the entrance to the Libyan Mission in New York February 21, 2011 The U.N. Security Council will hold a special session Tuesday to discuss the violent crackdown on protesters in Libya. The 15-member council will be briefed in a closed session by a senior U.N. official. Diplomats say the council will also discuss the content of a draft statement, which several diplomats said should strongly condemn the violence and call for its immediate halt. But it was unclear as to who will speak to the council on behalf of the Libyans. As ambassadors left a morning session that decided the format of the formal consultations, they said that Libya's deputy U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi would brief them. On Monday, Dabbashi made a bold and strong statement to reporters, calling Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi a "tyrant" and urging him to resign. While Dabbashi he had not quit his post, he said he represents the Libyan people, not the regime, and he called on the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over his country to block foreign mercenaries from entering or smuggling in weapons. He urged the U.N. to assist in opening humanitarian corridors from Libya to Egypt and Tunisia to assist civilians. He also called on the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague to start an investigation into what he said were crimes against humanity committed by Gadhafi and his sons on the Libyan people. But as council members met Tuesday morning, Libyaâs Ambassador Abd al-Rahman Shalgham, who diplomats say they had not seen since Friday, turned up outside the chamber and said he would speak at the afternoon meeting. Shalgham professed his loyalty to the Libyan leader, saying he is a friend since childhood. The Libyan ambassador said he would not criticize or attack Gadhafi, but he did call for a halt to the violence. "I ask him [Gadhafi] to stop the crackdown, I ask him to change, I ask him for constitution, for freedom," he said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly expressed his outrage over the violence, including reports of Libyan helicopters and warplanes firing on demonstrators. Speaking in Los Angeles Monday, he told reporters he had spoken for about 40 minutes that morning with Colonel Gadhafi and urged him to stop the violence and respect the human rights of his people.  U.N. human rights commissioner Navi Pillay has called for an independent, international investigation into the attacks on Libyan protesters.  NEW: Follow our Middle East reports on [1]Twitter and discuss them on our [2]Facebook page. References 1. http://twitter.com/VOAMidEast 2. http://www.facebook.com/pages/VOAMiddleEastVoices/124360240958667? v=wall .