NATO Military Committee calls for ceasefire in Libya

BRUSSELS, May 22 (KUNA) -- The NATO Military Committee, the highest military authority of the alliance, condemned the violence in Libya and called for a ceasefire in the war-torn North African country. "We continue to condemn the violence and seek support for a ceasefire," Sir Stuart Peach, Chairman of the Committee, told a press conference after the meeting of the committee on the level of Chiefs of Defence in Brussels on Wednesday evening.
He said they held a meeting with NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue partners as the partnership celebrates its 25th anniversary.
This helps us to boost trust and cooperation between the two sides and helps strengthen their defence capabilities and helps to address the wider security challenges, he said.
"We welcome their dialogue with us and we recognize their valuable contribution to NATO's operations and activities," he noted.
In reply to a question by the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, Sir Peach said there was no assessment of the situation in Libya with the Mediterranean partners and added that "it is for them to comment on their individual perspectives." NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue was initiated in 1994 by the North Atlantic Council. It currently involves seven non-NATO countries of the Mediterranean region: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
On his part, General Tod Wolters, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told the joint press conference that Allied command operation is implementing "the biggest adaptation of our Alliance since the Cold War and continues to adopt across air, land, sea, space and cyber to provide security to more than one billion citizens." On the NATO training situation in Iraq , he said the mission in Iraq is ongoing. "It is being administered by the NATO force we had in place. Their task is to advice and support the Iraqi security forces in Iraq and that mission continues," he added. The Military Committee meets twice a year at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, at the level of Chiefs of Defence to discuss NATO operations and missions and provide military advice on how the Alliance can best meet global security challenges, and once a year they meet in an NATO member country. (end) nk.gb