Nato to end Libya campaign on 31 October

Alliance decides to maintain air patrols for nine more days, while Russia pushes UN to dismantle resolution authorising force Nato will officially end its seven-month operation in Libya on 31 October, its governing North Atlantic Council has said. Russia meanwhile, is pushing for the UN security council to lift the no-fly zone over Libya soon. Moscow has previously accused Nato of abusing the UN resolution authorising military actions by seeking to bring about regime change rather than just protecting civilians. The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said on Friday: “It’s time to wrap it up, including the no-fly-zone.” The Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said late on Friday that the 31 October end would be confirmed formally next week. Diplomats said Nato air patrols would continue over Libya for the next nine days as a precautionary measure to ensure the stability of the new regime – gradually reducing assuming there were no further outbreaks of violence. The council took into account the wishes of Libya’s new government and of the United Nations, under whose mandate Nato carried out its operations. Victory in Libya represents a major boost for the alliance, which is bogged down in the 10-year war in Afghanistan, the 12-year mission in Kosovo and anti-piracy operations off Somalia. Rasmussen hailed the success of the operation, which started on 19 March with a series of US-led attacks designed to suppress Muamar Gaddafi’s formidable air defences, which included missile and radar networks. Fighters loyal to Libya’s National Transitional Council killed Gaddafi on Thursday. “It shows that freedom is the biggest force in the world,” Fogh Rasmussen said, adding that Nato had no intention of leaving any residual force in or near Libya. “We expect to close down the operation.” He said it was up to the new government to decide whether to launch an investigation into the hazy circumstances of Gaddafi’s death. “With regards to Gaddafi I would expect the new authorities in Libya to live up fully to the basic principles of rule of law and human rights, including full transparency.” Nato has said its commanders were not aware Gaddafi was in a convoy that Nato bombed as it fled Sirte. In a statement on Friday the alliance said an initial Thursday morning strike was aimed at a convoy of approximately 75 armed vehicles leaving Sirte, the Libyan city defended by Gaddafi loyalists. One vehicle was destroyed, which resulted in the convoy’s dispersal. Another jet then fired at about 20 vehicles that were driving at great speed toward the south, destroying or damaging about 10 of them. “We later learned from open sources and allied intelligence that Gaddafi was in the convoy and that the strike likely contributed to his capture,” the statement said. Intelligence from surveillance flights around Sirte on Thursday had indicated that a “command and control group, including senior military leaders” was trying to flee, said Steve Field, spokesman for the British prime minister, David Cameron. “There was a strike, there was damage to the convoy, the Free Libya Fighters then moved in as to what happened next that is not entirely clear,” Field said. Nato warplanes have flown about 26,000 sorties, including more than 9,600 strike missions. They destroyed about 5,900 military targets, including Libya’s air defences and more than 1,000 tanks, vehicles and guns, as well as Gaddafi’s command and control networks. The air strikes broke the stalemate that developed after Gaddafi’s initial attempts failed to crush the rebellion that broke out in February. In August the rebels began advancing on Tripoli, with the Nato warplanes providing close air support and destroying any loyalist defences in their way. Nato was sharply criticized by Russia, China, South Africa and other nations for overstepping the limited UN security council resolution that allowed it to protect civilians and using it as a pretext to pursue regime change in Libya. Churkin on Friday said the UN security council had accepted Russia’s draft resolution to lift the no-fly zone, but Britain and France stressed it was important to coordinate with Libya’s ruling the National Transitional Council. The Russians “admitted that they hadn’t actually consulted the Libyan authorities at all, and every member state said of course the Libyan authorities need to be consulted”, British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said. Senior NTC officials had “made clear they didn’t want a premature ending of the military authorisations, so we want to proceed in a slightly more measured way”, he said. Both Grant and the French ambassador Gerard Araud said they expected a resolution would be negotiated, with talks beginning in the middle of next week. Araud said: “We all share the view that now we are in the phasing out of the operation of resolution 1973 … [but] we have to do it properly. “For instance, the no-fly-zone, the problem is the airspace. For the moment the airspace is controlled by Nato, so you have to transfer the control of the airspace to the Libyan authorities.” Libya Middle East Nato Africa guardian.co.uk

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