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<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/01/nato-war-footing-libya>
Nato keeps war footing in Libya until Gaddafi regime smashed
World leaders attend Friends of Libya summit to recognise NTC as new govern=
ment
Julian Borger in Paris
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 September 2011 12.31 BST

Nato will remain on a war footing in the skies over Libya until the
last remnants of the Gaddafi regime have been defeated, European
diplomats have said.

World leaders are converging on Paris on Thursday for a Friends of
Libya summit intended to acclaim the National Transitional Council
(NTC) as the country's new interim government, and mark a pivot point
in the international community's efforts in Libya from war to
reconstruction.

The leaders will discuss a new UN security council resolution which
will endorse the new status quo, lifting the sanctions regime on Libya
to allow the NTC to get access to over $100bn (=A362bn) in state assets
frozen abroad since the start of the conflict, while handing the
United Nations the lead international role in rebuilding the country.

However, the NTC's western backers, led by France, Britain and the US,
want to continue Nato's legal mandate to conduct military operations
in Libya laid down in UN resolution 1973. The resolution, agreed in
March, allows the alliance to use "all necessary measures", short of
deploying ground troops, to protect civilians.

"We want to keep open the possibility of Nato operating legally as
long as Gaddafi and his supporters may pose a threat, so we want to
keep those elements of 1973," a European diplomat said.

Gaddafi loyalists are still holding out in Sirte on the coast, in Bani
Walid =96 about 150 miles south of Tripoli, and in the desert city of
Sebha. Gaddafi forces have rejected an ultimatum set by the NTC for
troops in Sirte to surrender by tomorrow. .

The Nato mandate expires at the end of September. The North Atlantic
Council, Nato's governing body, had the option of extending it when it
held a regular meeting on Wednesday, but was advised by military
commanders to wait until there was more clarity about what the UN
planned to do.

Nato's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, will tell the Paris
summit that the alliance is ready to support UN operations, but that
it will maintain its military role for the time being, conducting air
strikes against pro-Gaddafi armour and artillery.

"What we have seen in the last month and a half is that every time
they withdraw from a town, the Gaddafi forces shell the town,
targeting not just opposing forces but the people of those towns," a
Nato official said. "We cannot afford to have them withdraw from Sirte
and then shell it. We will not hesitate to hit his tanks and guns, no
matter what they are doing, for that reason."

European capitals were caught by surprise by the speed of the Gaddafi
regime's collapse, and the fall of Tripoli on 21 August. In the days
before diplomats from Britain, France and the US had been working on a
UN resolution that would have endorsed a ceasefire between the rebels
and the regime and deployed UN observers to monitor the truce.

"None of that is needed any more. This went much better than even the
most optimistic of us expected," the European diplomat said. "There
are no longer two parties to monitor, just one Libya. There is no need
for a ceasefire and no need for any observers."

The US, France, Britain and Qatar, which has provided the movement
with critical financial and military support, wanted a new UN
resolution to have been passed before Thursday's Paris meeting.
However, there was resistance from countries to writing off the
Gaddafi government and giving immediate recognition to the NTC.

Russia recognised the NTC only on the eve of the summit, leaving China
as the last permanent security council member yet to do so. China is
attending the summit but at a low level with a vice-minister from the
foreign ministry, but western capitals are hopeful that Beijing will
grant recognition in the next few days.

The NTC leadership will be asked to come up with a list of requirement
for international aid, which it is supposed to present to a Friends of
Libya ministerial meeting in the margins of the annual UN general
assembly in New York at the end of this month.
--=20
Yoshie Furuhashi
<http://mrzine.org/>