NATO concludes Libya mission after seven months.
- 13 years ago
ROUGH CUT. NO REPORTER NARRATION.
NATO ends its military operation in Libya at midnight on Monday (October 31), seven months after launching an air and sea campaign that helped bring the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi.
Visiting Libya for meetings with Libya's National Transitional Council and members of civil society, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "proud of the part NATO played."
Despite Rasmussen's depiction of the mission, the NATO intervention caused sharp rifts in the alliance and went on much longer than Western nations had expected or wanted.
Fourteen NATO members and four other states provided naval and air forces, but only eight NATO nations took part in combat missions. Some big NATO states, notably Germany had opposed the intervention.
NATO stuck to its decision to end the operation despite NTC calls for it to stay engaged longer and says it does not expect to play a major post-war role, although it could assist the transition to democracy by helping with security sector reform.
NATO ends its military operation in Libya at midnight on Monday (October 31), seven months after launching an air and sea campaign that helped bring the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi.
Visiting Libya for meetings with Libya's National Transitional Council and members of civil society, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "proud of the part NATO played."
Despite Rasmussen's depiction of the mission, the NATO intervention caused sharp rifts in the alliance and went on much longer than Western nations had expected or wanted.
Fourteen NATO members and four other states provided naval and air forces, but only eight NATO nations took part in combat missions. Some big NATO states, notably Germany had opposed the intervention.
NATO stuck to its decision to end the operation despite NTC calls for it to stay engaged longer and says it does not expect to play a major post-war role, although it could assist the transition to democracy by helping with security sector reform.