Campaign in Libya ends with Tripoli trip
November 1, 2011, Tuesday
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NATO'S top official yesterday marked the end of the alliance's seven-month air campaign over Libya, which played a key role in ousting Moammar Gadhafi, with what he said was a historic visit to the country.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen arrived in Tripoli for talks with Libya's interim leaders before NATO operations ended at midnight last night.
Last week, the UN Security Council - which authorized the mission in March - ordered an end to all military action in Libya.
The country's eight-month civil war ended earlier this month with the capture and death of Gadhafi.
Libyan officials had appealed for an extension of the air campaign until the end of the year, according to Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam.
He said the country's interim government wanted NATO's help in preventing Gadhafi loyalists from fleeing.
Allied air forces have carried out 9,600 sorties in the past seven months, destroying about 5,900 military targets.
The mission has been hailed as a success by NATO's military and political leaders, who have argued the bombings caused minimal loss of innocent lives while paralyzing Gadhafi's command and control networks and preventing his forces from carrying out reprisals against civilians.
Fogh Rasmussen yesterday said he was the first NATO chief to visit Libya and called his trip "historic."
NATO's supreme military commander, Admiral James Stavridis, said yesterday was "a proud and historic day for NATO, having successfully concluded operations to protect the people of Libya."
He added: "In accordance with direction from the North Atlantic Council, I have signed the orders concluding NATO's mission in Libya as of Monday."
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen arrived in Tripoli for talks with Libya's interim leaders before NATO operations ended at midnight last night.
Last week, the UN Security Council - which authorized the mission in March - ordered an end to all military action in Libya.
The country's eight-month civil war ended earlier this month with the capture and death of Gadhafi.
Libyan officials had appealed for an extension of the air campaign until the end of the year, according to Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam.
He said the country's interim government wanted NATO's help in preventing Gadhafi loyalists from fleeing.
Allied air forces have carried out 9,600 sorties in the past seven months, destroying about 5,900 military targets.
The mission has been hailed as a success by NATO's military and political leaders, who have argued the bombings caused minimal loss of innocent lives while paralyzing Gadhafi's command and control networks and preventing his forces from carrying out reprisals against civilians.
Fogh Rasmussen yesterday said he was the first NATO chief to visit Libya and called his trip "historic."
NATO's supreme military commander, Admiral James Stavridis, said yesterday was "a proud and historic day for NATO, having successfully concluded operations to protect the people of Libya."
He added: "In accordance with direction from the North Atlantic Council, I have signed the orders concluding NATO's mission in Libya as of Monday."
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