MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

NATO seven-month ‘United Protector’ campaign in Libya comes to an end this month

I'm very proud of what we have achieved” said NATO chief Rasmunssen

NATO plans to end its seven-month air and sea campaign in Libya at the end of October, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday, the day after the death of Muammar Gaddafi.

Rasmussen said that a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels set Oct. 31 as a provisional date to end the mission and a formal decision would be made next week. He added that the mission would be wound down in the period until the end of the month.

NATO officials said the formal decision would be based on the perception of the security situation after the transitional authorities declared the formal liberation of Libya, something they say they plan to do on Sunday.

Rasmussen said NATO had no intention to keep forces in the Libyan area after the end of the month.
“It is our intention to close the operation. It will be a clear-cut termination of our operation,” he said.

“We agreed that our operations are very close to completion and we have taken a preliminary decision to end Operation Unified Protector on Oct. 31,” Rasmussen told a news conference.

”(Until Oct. 31) NATO will monitor the situation and retain the capacity to respond to threats to civilians, if needed.“

Rasmussen said NATO had fulfilled its United Nations mandate to protect civilians in Libya with ”remarkable success“ and called it ”a special moment in history.“

”We mounted a complex operation with unprecedented speed and conducted it with the greatest of care,“ he said. ”I'm very proud of what we have achieved.“

”Now is the time for the Libyan people to take their destiny fully into their own hands to build a new, inclusive Libya based on democracy and reconciliation human rights and the rule of law“.

Gaddafi, who had been on the run for more than two months, was tracked down and killed in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday after his convoy was hit by a NATO air strike.

Asked if he supported an investigation into the manner of Gaddafi's death, given that he had been captured alive, Rasmussen said this was a matter for the Libyan authorities, but he would expect them to live up fully to principles of respect for the rule of law and human rights, including transparency.

He said NATO had not deliberately targeted Gaddafi and that he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of his son Saif al-Islam.

Meanwhile a television station based in Syria that supported Gaddafi said that the slain Libyan leader's wife has asked for a UN investigation into his death.

The wife of Gaddafi ”asks the United Nations to investigate the death of the fighter Muammar and Mo'tassim,” Arrai television said in a news headline, referring to one of Gaddafi's sons as well.

The headline also said Gaddafi's wife was proud of her husband's courage and her children who, it said, stood up to 40 countries and their agents throughout six months and considered them to be martyrs.

The body of the deposed dictator, riddled with bullets, is kept in a meat locker.