Brussels, 13/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The adoption, expected on Tuesday 12 April, of the concept of operations (CONOPS) for the CSDP humanitarian assistance support mission in Libya (EUFOR Libya) has been “suspended” until a request for support is made by the humanitarian action coordination office OCHA but not “blocked”, a European diplomat has said. The decision was taken at the behest notably of the Swedish delegation, supported by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton who stressed on Tuesday that the EU could intervene “only if asked by the UN”. She stated that it was very important that the people involved in delivering humanitarian aid were safe. Unlike in Haiti, where the EU made use of military means to help transport humanitarian aid to island following the earthquake there, deployment of military personnel to support humanitarian staff in Libya “would make a significant difference” and should, therefore, be decided after a request is received from OCHA, Ashton argued. “I would not describe this approach as sceptical. I would describe this approach as right”, she added, going on: “My proposal was to make sure the EU was able to provide those assets if OCHA felt it necessary to do so, rather than start planning, and that's what we're doing”. At the same time, the Council told the operation commander to continue urgently the planning for a possible EU intervention, in close cooperation with the UN, NATO and others (see related article). The EUFOR Libya military staff, based in Rome, was also increased in number with the arrival last week of the first EU officers (other than Italian) needed to complete this stage of the planning. (A.By./transl.rt)