NATO returns to Libya but not in a combat role

By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch

On the morning of the 4 June Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen confirmed, in advance of the Defence Ministerial, that NATO had decided to send an expert-level delegation to Libya to identify areas where it can provide security assistance. A team of experts dispatched to Libya will report back by the end of June. The General Secretary said there will be no troop deployment and any training activities would take place outside Libya.
 
This announcement was the expected outcome of the Secretary General’s meeting with the Prime Minister of Libya, Mr. Ali Zeidan, at NATO HQ on 27 May, although, according to Mr Rasmussen, it was a decision for the North Atlantic Council (NAC) to make. The NAC did not meet until the afternoon of 4 June, so presumably merely endorsed the decision, ex post facto. The official reports on the NATO website are unclear on this point. 
 
Speaking to journalists on 27 May, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen referred to his meeting with the Libyan Prime Minister as “truly significant”. He said:
 
NATO has expertise in the reform of security and defence sectors, especially when it comes to institutional education and training. And we stand ready to help the Libyan government in these areas, where you need us and where we can add value. We are also open to develop our political links. At the Chicago summit last year, NATO declared its readiness to welcome Libya as a partner within the Mediterranean Dialogue, if you so wish. That invitation stands.
 
In his effusive response, the Prime Minister said that his country’s experience with NATO was very positive and that he wanted to collaborate in the fields of peace, cooperation and security. Responding to a journalist’s question about the nature of the support offered by NATO, the Prime Minister indicated they had discussed technical and training support. 
 
Clarifying what NATO was prepared to offer, the Secretary General specified help to build the security sector in Libya but stated that “this request will be forwarded to the North Atlantic Council. And it will be the Council that makes the final decision”. He added that “this is not about deploying NATO troops to Libya. This is about technical assistance upon request of the Libyan Government”. 
 
Picking up his cue, the Prime Minister reiterated that the Libyan Government is implementing the decisions of the National Congress by asking for technical support, technical advice, help in training. There will be no combat role, no role in relation to weapons, he concluded.
 
Libya was also one of the subjects discussed when the Secretary General met President Obama at the White House on 31 May, although there was no report from the meeting on the NATO website. The President said:
 
And part of where we think we can be helpful is to ensure that a democratically elected Libyan government has the capacity to control its borders to ensure that it does not become a safe haven for terrorism. And I think NATO has an important role to play on that front.
 
In his news briefing after the NATO Ministerial, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said: “We will develop a plan for how NATO can play a role in boosting the capacity of the Libyan government to secure its borders and counterterrorism. This effort will enhance security for the Libyan people, and it will help address a security challenge on Europe's southern flank”.
 
According to the Boston Herald security experts are concerned that al Qaida-linked militants, who have been pushed out of Mali after French military intervention, may be trying to establish a safe haven in southern Libya where the new government has little or no influence.
 
US officials, speaking ‘on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly ahead of the meeting, told Associated Press on Monday 4 June that the United States had been talking to the Libyans about security training aid but were still considering what the specifics would be. This would seem to suggest that NATO’s emerging policy on Libya has a ‘made in Washington’ stamp on it and that the North Atlantic Council, “the principal political decision-making body within NATO” merely rubber stamped it.