Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Libya: it means taking command of NATO?

NATO has accepted, Sunday, March 27, to assume the full command of military operations in Libya after nearly a week of difficult negotiations on the structure of command. The decision, whose implementation could take between 48 and 72 hours, says the Atlantic Alliance is responsible for operations to protect civilians in neutralizing the military infrastructure of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and enforcing a zone of fly and an embargo on arms shipments.

Why NATO takes it up the reins of the intervention? The United States ensured that the command of coalition operations were in a hurry to pass the baton, the intervention in Libya was becoming increasingly unpopular overseas. Furthermore, several countries like Canada, Italy and Norway, were reluctant to engage with other countries involved if NATO did not intervene directly.

In fact, the Alliance is the only integrated military structure available to allied forces. The establishment of a unified command is expected to prevent the dispersion of efforts, but also accidents and errors during operations. "NATO has a culture of working together, says Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations.

It has secure means of communication and access to information that should facilitate the missions. Both in terms of command and control planning is the only organization in the world able to oversee this type of intervention. "His commitment will prevent from countries like Qatar and the UAE to participate in intervention, provides general Jean-Paul Parakeet, former Chief of Staff of the European Union.

"Technically, the Arab members of the coalition will act as" Contributing nations "[Participating nations]. The military can work together. "Who will monitor the operation of policy? Paris, who was reluctant to relinquish control to NATO air strikes, obtained in parallel creation of a" contact group "that will consolidate all countries and international organizations involved in the case of Libya.

Their mission: take "the political leadership of the operation," as Alain Juppe said Wednesday. "Specifically, NATO has become a sort of military service provider, to available to countries of the coalition, said Jean-Pierre Maulny. This is the 'contact group' that should return a political decision and reflection on the process of ending the crisis.

His role will be to set limits on the implementation of resolution 1973. "This kind of structure has already existed in the past. A similar organization, consisting of five members (U.S., Russia, Germany, France and United Kingdom), was especially created in 1994 to find a political solution to the conflict in Bosnia.

The "contact group" dedicated to Libya will meet for the first time in London on Tuesday. The foreign ministers of more than 35 countries and the Secretary General of NATO have already confirmed their participation in the meeting along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Secretary General Kofi UN, Ban Ki-moon.

>> Read The search for a "political process" (Edition Subscribers) But "NATO also has a board policy, the North Atlantic Council", said General Jean-Paul Parakeet. Comprising senior representatives from each member country is the supreme decision-making within the organization. What role will he side with the "contact group"? Hard to say, "the Alliance has always been, since its establishment, structure, and military and political ...", noted an American diplomat during the negotiations last week.

The "NATO label" risk there to harm the image of the coalition? French diplomacy is indeed concerned about losing the fragile support of Arab League urging the coalition under the NATO flag. This would explain in part the reluctance of Paris against a transfer of command, particularly as the coalition intervention is far from unanimous on both sides of the Mediterranean.

"For many countries, NATO is allied with U.S. interests, recognizes General Parakeet. Alliance's reputation has suffered from wars of the 2000s, but I think that we should not exaggerate the significance of these interpretations. It seems that the hardest part of operations in Libya has passed.

We are moving towards standardized management, with specific operations to protect our people. " But the intervention could be complicated if the insurgents managed to get close to Tripoli. Fief forces Qaddafi, the Libyan capital threatens to be the scene of heavy fighting. "If the rebels appeared to seek vengeance on the supporters of Gaddafi, this could create a huge political problem for the Alliance because the UN mandate, which is to protect civilians, should apply to all" observes Daniel Keohane, of the Institute for Security Studies of the European Union.

Le Monde. en

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