BRUSSELS – The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) agreed on Sunday to take command of military operations in Libya from a US-led coalition, a NATO official said.
“NATO has decided today to implement all aspects of the UN Resolution 1973 to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack from the [Muammer] Gaddafi regime,” a NATO official said on condition of anonymity. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on US television that the country would begin reducing the military forces it had committed to the Libya mission “beginning this week or within the next week or so”.
Ambassadors from the 28-member alliance met to scrutinise military plans and rules of engagement set out after days of fraught talks to overcome objections from France and Turkey. France was reluctant to see a transfer of command while Turkey opposed ground strikes. Diplomats said earlier that NATO military planners had strictly limited the use of force to the protection of civilians and populated areas.
The three-month plan does not call for NATO to intervene in support of the armed rebellion fighting Gaddafi’s forces as the alliance will remain impartial in the conflict in Libya, said alliance diplomats. “NATO will always remain impartial. NATO does not take sides. The goal is to stop any potential danger for the population, in line with the UN Security Council resolution,” said one diplomat, who asked not to be identified.
The operations will be led by Canadian General Charles Bouchard, who is based at NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command in Naples in southern Italy. The Libya campaign has been codenamed “Operation Unified Protector.” NATO had also begun to “execute the no-fly zone operations” over Libya as well as imposing a naval arms embargo, Bouchard.
