NATO's Libya mission to finish at month's end

Oct 21, 2011, 20:11 GMT

Brussels - NATO's military mission in Libya will be finished by the end of October, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday. The decision is provisional, pending a final decision in the coming weeks, he said.

NATO has carried out a protective air mission for civilian protesters since the end of March and maintained a sea blockade against the government of Moamer Gaddafi, who was killed on Thursday.

'Now it is the responsibility of the Libyan authorities to deal with the internal Libyan affairs,' Rasmussen said. 'We have conducted our operation with the aim of defending civilians against attack, in accordance with the United Nations resolution.'

Rasmussen spoke after NATO ambassadors met in Brussels to deliberate the possible end to the military mission.

As for the details of how Gaddafi died, Rasmussen said it was for the Libyan authorities to decide whether a special investigation was needed.

'I would expect them to live up to the spirit the (National Transitional Council) itself has called for, namely democracy and transparency,' he said.

Rasmussen said there was no knowledge of the whereabouts of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of the late tyrant who fighters said had been arrested in the coastal city of Zlitan, some 300 kilometres west of Sirte, where his father was arrested.

He expressed confidence that the transitional authorities would deal with internal Libyan affairs, noting that the NTC 'has called for freedom and democracy.'

'This is the reason why I take it for granted that the new authorities will live up to their international responsibility ... and the basic principles of democracy including the respect for the rule of law and human rights,' he said.

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