NATO prepares training mission in Libya
(BRUSSELS2) The announcement was made by Secretary General AF Rasmussen before the meeting of Defense Ministers on Tuesday (June 4): the Alliance is preparing a training and assistance mission for the army and the forces of Libyan security. " Last week, the Libyan government requested NATO advice in the security sector " explained the Secretary General " We acted quickly to respond” to this request.
A report for the end of June
A team of experts should fly to Tripoli " as soon as possible ", the objective is to identify the areas " where the Libyans think they need advice and where NATO can add value” and report back to NATO by the end of June. This will allow us " to decide on the way forward” added Rasmussen. " I believe this would be a good way to continue our cooperation with Libya, after we successfully took steps to protect the Libyan people two years ago.".
Offshore training
Three principles should guide NATO assistance, he said: 1) having strong ownership (of these issues) by the Libyan government; 2) provide advice in areas where NATO has expertise, such as the creation of security structures ". And last principle: the mission will not lead to the deployment of troops in Libya” at least not automatically. " If we engage in training activities, such activities may take place outside of Libya ».
National Guard training?
As one diplomat told B2, no state is indeed "really very hot" to send large numbers of troops there, as in Afghanistan, under safe conditions. Also a small core of people could provide expertise and advice on site. And most of the training is done "off shore". A process on which one can however have doubts. Used in Iraq, in particular, it had not really shown its effectiveness.
NATO would not train all the security forces but could choose to focus its action on certain elements, in particular to train the new "National Guard" which will result from the incorporation of the various militias and will have a territorial security vocation.
If this training mission materializes, NATO and the European Union will once again find themselves on the same playing field. The European Union has started to deploy its own EUBAM Libya mission to structure and train border guards.
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