Brussels, 28/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Several EU members have so far been reticent about participating in the current military intervention in Libya. These countries include Sweden, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania and the three Baltic countries. It now looks possible, however, that they will support NATO taking over responsibility for the entire operation. On Sunday 27 March, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) gave the green light to extending the Unified Protector operation, which involves implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1973 in full, including the protection of the civilian population in Libya (until now, NATO's mandate was limited to overseeing the arms embargo and no-fly zone). In a press release published on 27 March, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary-general of NATO, welcomed the fact that “the allies have decided to take responsibility for the entire military operation in Libya”. Rasmussen stressed that “our objective is to protect civilians and the zones inhabited by civilians which are threatened with attacks from the Gaddafi regime… NATO will do everything possible to implement all aspects of the United Nations resolution. Nothing more and nothing less.” Up until now, intervention has been carried out with planes belonging to countries in the international coalition (France, the United Kingdom, the US, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Canada and Spain - Greece has provided military bases but has not taken part in the air operation itself). The Netherlands and Romania have already announced that they will take part in the operation once the command of the operation is transferred to NATO. The former will supply F-16 planes and a minesweeper and the latter will supply a frigate. Sweden is also prepared to deploy between six and eight Gripen fighter planes for a maximum period of 10 days. The three Baltic countries (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) do not have sufficient air capability that they are prepared to contribute to the operation by providing technical personnel. Bulgaria and Hungary are also willing to make a contribution to humanitarian activities within the NATO framework.
Paris says NATO is not in charge of “policy steering”. France has underlined that even though NATO is in charge of military operations in Libya, policy steering is still in the hands of the Contact Group of which all the different participating countries are part, including those that are not NATO members. A spokesman for the French foreign affairs department declared on Monday 28 March in Paris that “NATO is not responsible for policy steering in Libya. The Contact Group is responsible for this”. France and the United Kingdom have taken the initiative to “invite all countries participating in the operation, as well as the African Union, Arab League and all European countries that want to be involved in this initiative, to London on Tuesday 29 March”. They intend to use this meeting to promote greater clarification of the relevant issues. (A.By./H.B./F.B./transl.fl)