Focus-Libya: no-fly zone under NATO control. Frattini, a shared political solution needed in London
ROME, Italy, March 29, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — NATO is taking over command of operations in Libya on a UN mandate to defend civilians, and no-fly zone enforcement operations have already begun. This was the announcement by Canadian General Charles Bouchard, chief of the “Unified Protector” mission from Naples, which has taken over from the “Odyssey Dawn” mission launched by the coalition of the willing under the command of the US, France and Great Britain.
NATO forces, he explained, “are acting in close coordination with regional and international partners to defend Libya”, and “the more the effort is shared, the stronger the message sent to the Libyan people will be, who desperately need our help”. “Our goal is to help and defend civilians from attack or the threat of attack”, he continued. NATO is ready to achieve these goals with every means at its disposal, “by air and by sea”, the General added, pointing out that, in any case, the Alliance “will do everything its can to impede the use of air force and will do so with care and precision in such a way as to avoid civilian casualties”.
Gaddafi’s exit from the scene remains a political objective, which the international community intends to pursue with diplomatic and not military instruments. The London conference tomorrow, in which Minister Frattini and the foreign ministers of the countries that participating, along with Italy, in the mission, will focus on that.
“The NATO actions in which we are participating”, Frattini asserted, “are not an end in themselves. It is not possible to carry on with such actions indefinitely, but we must think about a political solution, obviously confronting the issue together”. The minister reiterated that “certain ideas are circulating” about the Libyan situation, but “our institutional duty is to eliminate the distances, find a solution to be agreed to not only by the four largest European countries, but by all” the allies. “Any kind of divisive political strategy is bound to fail”. “The ideas of Italy, France and Germany”, the minister added, “will all flow together at tomorrow’s meeting in London of the Contact Group”, and the objective is to find a “shared” stance on achieving the end “which is”, Frattini assured, “a new post-Gaddafi Libya”.
SOURCE
Italy – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
