NATO extends Libya mission for another 90 days

PanARMENIAN.Net - NATO on Wednesday, June 1, formally extended its Libyan mission launched in March for another 90 days, the military alliance said in a statement.

The 28-member alliance took over a Western campaign of air strikes as well as enforcement of a no-fly zone and an arms embargo on Libya in late March with a 90-day operations' plan.

"NATO and partners have just decided to extend our mission for Libya for another 90 days," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.

"This decision sends a clear message to the Gaddafi regime: We are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya," the statement said. "We will sustain our efforts to fulfill the United Nations mandate. We will keep up the pressure to see it through."

Rasmussen said NATO was determined to ensure the Libyan people could shape their own future. "And that day is getting closer," he said, Reuters reported.

NATO took control of all military operations for Libya from a coalition led by France, Britain and the United States on March 31.

The alliance has stepped up its bombing campaign against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in recent weeks, but analysts say it has yet to deliver a decisive blow to topple the Libya leader and the conflict could still drag on for several more months. NATO extended Libya mission for another 90