At
UN on
Libya, NATO
Members Might
Stay On,
Qatari
Boast Panned
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 26 --
Ending NATO's
mandate by
October 31 may
not
mean as such
as was
thought. At
the Security
Council on
Wednesday,
even those
pushing to
limit NATO's
mandate said
that at the
bilateral
request of the
Transitional
National
Council,
military
forces
previously
with NATO
could stay in
Libya.
Meanwhile,
Qatar's
military chief
of staff Maj.
Gen. Hamad bin
Ali al-Atiya
was
quoted
bragging, "We
were among
them and the
numbers of
Qataris
on ground were
hundreds in
every region."
He went
further:
"Training and
communications
had been in
Qatari hands.
Qatar …
supervised the
rebels' plans
because they
are civilians
and did not
have enough
military
experience. We
acted as the
link between
the rebels and
NATO forces."
Inner City
Press asked
Russian
Ambasador
Vitaly Churkin
about it. "It
would be
another
violation of
Resolution
1973," Churkin
said.
The
chairman of
the Libya
Sanctions
Committee,
Portuguese
Ambassador
Cabral, agreed
but said he
had not
received any
formal
complaint
about it, and
that he has no
mandate to act
on a media
report quoting
a Qatari
official.
Things
seem to end
with a whimper
rather than a
bang.
A Permanent
Representative
on the Council
told Inner
City Press
that Qatar's
bragging "is
outrageous,"
reflective of
Qatar's
"billion
dollar foreign
policy."
A different
Permanent
Representative,
South
African's Baso
Sangqu, later
told Inner
City Press
that such open
violations of
Security
Council
resolutions
"cripple
international
law."
(c) UN Photo
Ban
Ki-moon &
Gaddafi 2007:
nobody loves
you when
you're down
and out?
In
the morning UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant told
Inner City
Press there
have already
been two
letters from
the National
Transitional
Council.
After the
NTC's Ibrahim
Dabbashi
spoke, a
reporter asked
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
if what
Dabbashi said
might mean
allowing
NATO's mandate
to run past
October 31.
"Good
question,"
Araud said,
citing a
meeting of the
North Atlantic
Council on
Friday.
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