Libyan Ambassador Wants Longer NATO Mission

While addressing an audience at the National Council on US-Arab Relations on Friday, Libyan  Ambassador Ali Aujali expressed disappointment with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for ending its mission next Monday.

“The National Security Council ended the mission of NATO yesterday,” Aujali said. ” I was not very happy.”

Aujali went on to explain that he expected them to extend the mission until stability was restored to Libya. 

While Libyan Ruler Muammar Gadhafi was killed on October 20, much is still needed to stabilize Libya. Such pressing needs include securing its borders and collecting all of the illegal weapons remaining on the streets.

“Libya has no army, no police,” Aujali remarked. “[There are only] security brigades formed under Gadhafi’s sons’ leadership whose purpose is not to protect the country, but to protect the regime, the family.”

“We need help from the international community,” Aujali concluded.

NATO's UN Mandate in Libya To Expire Monday

The United Nations Security Council today agreed to lift its mandate authorizing military action in Libya, ending the UN-backed NATO mission to the country on October 31 2011.

The decision comes after Libya’s rebel forces declared liberation late last week and are currently in the process of forming a transitional government. Yesterday, Libya’s representative at the UN Ibrahim Dabbashi said his country supported the October 31 end date, but asked Council members to wait until his government had finished evaluating Libya’s security situation before making a final decision.

The extent to which the international community and Western countries will help Libya deal with security concerns after more than eight months of civil strife remains unclear. British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant confirmed that his government was in talks about providing security assistance to Libya’s National Transitional Council, but said the forms that assistance might take had yet to be determined.

The Security Council passed resolution 1973 in March after Col. Gaddafi promised large scale military action against towns and villages that had fallen in the hands of anti-government protesters. The resolution allowed for airstrikes to protect civilian populations under the threat of attack, but held provisions against the deployment of foreign troops on the ground.

But NATO’s implementation of the resolution has been criticized by Council members like Russia and South Africa, who say it exceeded its protection of civilian mandate by arming rebels and aiming to overthrow the Gaddafi regime.

Earlier this month, Russia used its veto to block a resolution condemning Syrian government violence against civilians, arguing that the Libyan resolution had raised important concerns about the implementation and interpretation of Council actions.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin today welcomed the decision to end NATO’s mandate, but said the Council had to learn from its mistakes in Libya if it wanted member states to work closely together in the future.

“We believe that numerous violations of resolution 1973 have taken place in the course of the past few months, we have repeatedly discussed that in the Security Council,” he told reporters outside the Council. “We’ve had a number of grievances we continue to have them in terms of the effectiveness and legality of the work of the Security Council.”

US Ambassador Susan Rice defended NATO’s interpretation of the UN mandate and dismissed any link between the Syrian and Libyan situations.

“The effort to use Libya as an excuse not to act in other contexts is not a fair one or an accurate one. It was very clear, as we discussed and negotiated resolution 1973 what the authorization of the use of force to protect civilians would entail.” she said “Undoubtedly as this unfolded and occurred over the course of some months, there were those that found increasingly uncomfortable what it was they had agreed to. But to suggest somehow they were mislead, is false.”

Libya Could Ask NATO To End Mission By Next Week

The new government of Libya might ask the UN Security Council to put an end to NATO’s enforcement of a no fly zone as early as next week, says Libyan ambassador to the United Nations Ibrahim Dabbashi.

Dabbashi told the UN Security Council today that while the National Transitional Council continues to evaluate Libya’s security situation, he expects the new government to make a formal announcement regarding NATO’s mission before the end of the month.

“The Libyan people is looking forward to termination of the no fly zone over Libya as well as terminating the mandate accorded by Security Council resolution 1973 to protect civilians as soon as possible. In accordance with the initial assessments, October 31 is a logical date to terminate this mandate.” he said.

One of the first Libyan diplomats to denounce the Gaddafi regime crackdown against protests earlier this year, Dabbashi was instrumental in getting the Security Council to back military action in Libya.
Today, the Libyan Ambassador thanked Council members for their “indispensable” support in enforcing the no fly zone and protecting civilians, but said that now that the NTC has declared “liberation”, prolonging NATO’s mission would undermine Libyan sovereignty.

“Our people by nature hate any interference in its sovereignty.” he told the Council. “Everyday that passes with the foreign sovereignty over our space is a derogation of our sovereignty. This is particularly so after the declaration of liberation made on the 23rd of this month.”

The NTC declaration of liberation is meant to mark the beginning of  Libya’s political transition and Dabbashi says he expects an interim government would be set up in the next two weeks.

The Libyan Ambassador also said there would be a transparent investigation of the circumstances surrounding Gaddafi’s death and any other possible human rights abuse allegations against rebel forces.

Last week, UN human rights officials said there should be an investigation into the Libyan strongman’s death after several video’s showed him being captured alive by rebel fighters.

Dabbashi said that initial reports confirmed Gaddafi had died from wounds sustained in a firefight between regime loyalists and rebels, and had not been shot after being detained by NTC forces.

Bolivia's Morales Sees Oil, Greed Behind NATO Mission in Libya

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s socialist president, says NATO’s intervention in Libya is an act of “imperialism” motivated by the West’s desire to control natural resources. 

In a press conference ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly this afternoon, Morales argued that the NATO bombing campaign against forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was part of a new strategy deployed by capitalist countries.

“They are trying to overcome their financial problems by whatever means [necessary to control] the natural resources of other countries.” he told reporters. 

Morales says NATO and the UN Security Council’s refusal to intervene in the Israel-Palestine crisis – a conflict he maintains is comparable to that of Libya, without the important oil reserves –is evidence of the West’s double standard for military intervention.  

“There have been efforts in Libya to remove the government, drop bombs,” he said “And what about in Palestine, where is NATO? Where Palestine is concerned where is the Security Council?”  

Morales said he was disappointed by President Brack Obama’s opening remarks at the General Assembly. 

 “I see a double standard on the part of President Obama which is disappointing. He talked about lasting peace, durable peace – but that can’t be through [American] bases or military intervention.” 

President Morales also referred to the America’s failure to move forward on the Kyoto Protocols and the continued existence of a large US nuclear arsenal as evidence that the American President was insincere in his commitment to climate change and nuclear disarmament.

South African Ambassador: NATO Making Things Worse In Libya

NATO’s military campaign in Libya has worsened the plight of the civilian population and has yet to provide a longterm solution to the crisis, says South Africa’s Ambassador to the United Nations.

In a Security Council briefing earlier today, Ambassador Baso Sangqu argued that NATO has done little to stabilize the current situation in Libya and that the mission had in fact led to an increase in civilian casualties.

“This meeting takes place exactly one hundred days after the start of the NATO aerial bombardment in Libya. Despite this military action, there has not been a solution to the Libyan crisis, and the situation has in fact deteriorated with more loss of civilian lives and massive destruction of infrastructure.”

Sangqu says the NATO mission has gone well beyond the mandate of the Security Council Resolution 1973, which called for the implementation of a no fly zone and allowed for air strikes against Gaddafi forces.

“When South Africa voted in favor of Resolution 1973, our intention was to ensure the protection of civilians as well as unhindered access to humanitarian aid to those who desperately need it.” said Sanggu, “a political, rather than a military, solution is the only way in which peace can be achieved in Libya.”

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma last week accused NATO of using Resolution 1973 to encourage regime change at the expense of civilian protection. “We have spoken out against the misuse of the good intentions in Resolution 1973,” he said. “We strongly believe that the resolution is being abused for regime change, political assassinations and foreign military occupation.”

In a meeting yesterday in Pretoria, African Union officials reiterated their concern over the continued the NATO-led airstrikes, and once again called on Gaddafi and rebel forces to implement an immediate ceasefire. 

AU officials released a statement arguing only a political solution could “sustainably settle the current conflict.”

Earlier today, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and a top military intelligence official.

It is unclear what effect the warrants will have on attempts at negotiating a political solution to the conflict. The ICC decision was welcomed by top NATO officials, and seems to indicate the organization continues to be determined to remove Gaddafi from power.