NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who announced the NATO agreement late Thursday in Brussels, said the alliance operation would proceed in parallel with the bombing campaign carried out by coalition aircraft.
"At this moment there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation," Fogh Rasmussen said. "We are considering whether NATO should take on the broader responsibility in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution, but that decision has not been reached yet."
| Makes me wonder if the Russians could have breached the Fulda Gap while the Euros were arguing about who would lead the response to stop them. |
... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
, including the protection of Libyan civilians and supporting humanitarian aid efforts on the ground.
NATO expects to commence enforcement of the no-fly zone within 48-72 hours. The operation will be commanded from Naples, Italy, by Adm. Samuel J. Locklear. US warplanes will continue flying strike missions over Libya, the Pentagon said earlier Thursday.
NATO also agreed to launch military planning for a broader mandate, including a no-drive zone that would prevent Libyan
leader Muammar Qadaffy... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ...
's armor and artillery from moving. The North Atlantic Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday to consider the plans.
"Without prejudging deliberations, I would expect a decision in coming days," Fogh Rasmussen said.
NATO'S top decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, had been struggling for six days to reach an agreement on using its military command and control capability to coordinate the operation in Libya. The logjam appeared to have broken earlier Thursday when Turkey, which had sought assurances that the NATO operation would be limited, finally gave its assent. The alliance needs the approval of all 28 members to take such action.
Turkey's parliament authorized the government to participate in military operations in Libya, including the no-fly zone. Turkey is NATO's only Mohammedan member.
Before the approval of the mission, hundreds of people, including members of left-wing political parties, protested against the deployment outside Turkey's Parliament as well as the US Embassy, where protesters rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against NATO and Stavridis' visit.
Separately, the 27 European Union heads of government, also in Brussels for a summit, issued a statement saying the EU stood ready to assist in building a new Libya "in cooperation with the United Nations, the vaporous Arab League, the African Union and others." In Rome, Italy's parliament approved the country's involvement in Libya with back-to-back votes in both houses. The lower Chamber of Deputies gave its approval on Thursday, a day after the Senate.
Italy has offered the coalition attacking military targets in Libya the use of seven military bases for its aircraft.
It has also made available eight of its own jets for use in missions. But it has been pushing for NATO to take over command of the operation.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy
...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit...
said the United Arab Emirates had committed 12 planes to the coalition.
Sarkozy said on Friday it was up to Libyans themselves to decide on the fate of leader Qadaffy.
"The future of Libya, the political choices of Libya, including what they decide to do with Muammar Qadaffy and his henchmen is the problem of the Libyans, it's not our problem," Sarkozy told a news briefing after talks between EU leaders in Brussels.