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| Africa North |
| NATO chief urges wider Libya participation |
| 2011-06-09 |
| [Al Jazeera] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... 's secretary-general has said he will use a two-day meeting of NATO alliance defence ministers to push for broader participation in Libya by other members of the organisation. Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked for more countries from the 28-nation alliance to share the costs and risks involved in the campaign at a meeting at NATO's Brussels headquarters on Wednesday. "Obviously some of those allies and partners carrying the heavy burden start to ask whether it would be possible to broaden the participation a bit," he said earlier this week. "That is also the essence of our alliance: that allies that actually have the necessary assets at their disposal, also contribute those assets, based on the principle of solidarity." NATO is not publicly releasing figures on how many nations are involved in the strikes on Libya, but it is thought to be about 17. One of the alliance's most powerful members, Germany, is refusing to take part in the mission and that looked unlikely to change on Wednesday. "We will not change our position concerning the military action. We will not participate,'' Christian Schmidt, Germany's secretary of state, said. Sweden's government announced on Wednesday that it reached a deal with opposition parties to extend the mission of Swedish jets taking part in Libya reconnaissance missions by three months when it expires on June 22. Under the plan, five of the eight Swedish jets currently taking part in the operation will continue to carry out reconnaissance missions over Libya. Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... Spain has officially recognised Libya's rebel National Transitional Council as the country's legitimate representative, Trinidad Jimenez, the Spanish foreign minister said during a visit to rebel-held eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. "I'm here today to confirm that the National Transitional Council is the only legitimate representative of the Libyan people," Jimenez told news hounds on Wednesday. |
| Posted by:Fred |