Former Croatian president Stjepan Mesic has said he will not give up his plan to take Croatian businessmen to Libya even as protests continue to engulf the country.

"The current situation in Libya does not change my plans to take a trip there together with some Croatian businessmen. Interests are interests, and contracts are contracts. It does not mean that agreements mustn’t be made there, because someone is protesting" Mesic said.

Mesic has good relations with Libya’s head Muammar el-Qaddafi and has tried to facilitate business agreements between this North African country and Croatian businessmen. He remains confident that Qaddafi is not behind the violence against the protesters that has claimed, according to NGOs, more than 200 lives.

"It is hard for me to link Qaddafi to an order to shoot the protesters. As far as I know him, he freed those that courts sentenced for opposing him. Libya must find strength to investigate this big drama and determine who had ordered the killing of the protesters," Mesic said.

Protests swept Libya days after those in Egypt and Tunis led to the deposition of those countries’ dictators.