NATO vows to press Libya campaign as Italy objects

NATO vowed Wednesday to press its bombing campaign in Libya despite a call from member state Italy for a halt to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid as the civilian death toll mounts.Alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said more civilians would die if operations were not maintained under a UN mandate to protect Libyans from the exactions of the government of veteran leader Moamer Kadhafi.

“NATO will continue this mission because if we stop, countless more civilians could lose their lives,” Rasmussen said in a video statement on the NATO website.

The secretary general did not directly refer to Italy, whose Foreign Minister Franco Frattini earlier called for “an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities” in Libya.

“We have seen the effects of the crisis and therefore also of NATO action not only in eastern and southwestern regions but also in Tripoli,” Frattini told a parliamentary committee in Rome.

“I believe an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities is required in order to create effective humanitarian corridors,” while negotiations should also continue on a more formal ceasefire and peace talks, he said.

“I think this is the most urgent and dramatic point.

“I think it is legitimate to request ever more detailed information on the results” of the NATO mission, Frattini added, condemning “the dramatic errors that hit civilians, which is clearly not an objective of the NATO mission.”

Frattini’s comments had drawn a swift rebuff from NATO ally France which has played a leading role in the military intervention in Libya.

“The coalition and the countries that met as the Abu Dhabi contact group two weeks ago were unanimous on the strategy — we must intensify the pressure on Kadhafi,” foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters.

“Any pause in operations would risk allowing him to play for time and to reorganise. In the end, it would be the civilian population that would suffer from the smallest sign of weakness on our behalf,” he said.

NATO has been forced to defend the credibility of its air war after it admitted firing a rogue missile that Libyan officials said killed nine civilians in Tripoli, two of them children.

“I would suggest that our reputation and credibility is unquestionable,” said Wing Commander Mike Bracken, the mission’s military spokesman.

“What is questionable is the Kadhafi regime’s use of human shields (and) firing missiles from mosques,” Bracken said at operation headquarters in Naples, Italy.

The blunder — an embarrassment for a mission that prides itself on protecting Libya’s people from the regime — came on the heels of a friendly fire incident last week in which a column of rebel vehicles was hit by NATO warplanes.

The outgoing head of the Arab League Amr Mussa too voiced concerns about NATO’s bombing campaign, in an interview with a British newspaper on Wednesday.

The veteran Egyptian diplomat, who played a key role in securing Arab support for the UN Security Council Resolution that authorised NATO air strikes, told the Guardian the bombing mission may not be working.

“When I see children being killed, I must have misgivings. That’s why I warned about the risk of civilian casualties,” he said.

Libyan state media said NATO warplanes had carried out raids on civilian traffic control checkpoints in the western towns of Khoms and Nalut.

The alliance denied bombing traffic police, insisting it hit only military targets. 

Source: Afp

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