By IANS,
Brussels : Italy wants NATO to take over the command of the multinational operation against Libya, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday.
“We believe it is time to move from a coalition of willing towards a bit more coordinated approach under NATO. Because NATO has the capability, the experience to lead a well-coordinated action,” Xinhua quoted Frattini as saying on his arrival for a European Union foreign ministers’ meet in Brussels.
France, Britain and the US, who are also NATO members, have already been carrying out air strikes on Libyan targets since Saturday.
NATO approved a military plan late Sunday to help implement the UN arms embargo on Libya. But it failed to reach agreement on the imposition of a no-fly zone due to opposition from Turkey.
NATO ambassadors are scheduled to meet Monday to debate whether the alliance should take charge of the military operations against Libya.
Frattini’s stance has been echoed by British Defence Minister Liam Fox, who said Sunday that he hoped the command would be taken over by NATO “within the next few days”.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said his country, which is now commanding the mission, would relinquish control “in a matter of days”, with a British-French unified command or NATO as possible successors.
Gates, however, noted that the Arab states were reluctant to have a NATO flag over the intervention.
The question now was whether participating countries could work out a mechanism “without a NATO flag”, he added.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO is an alliance of 28 independent member countries. Presently, its members are Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Britain and the US.