The Western alliance “agreed to respond positively to the request made by the Libyan Prime Minister for NATO to provide advice on defense institution building in Libya,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as saying in a statement.
Rasmussen said that the defense organization “will establish a small advisory team to conduct this effort” following Tripoli’s request in May.
The team, which will compromise of “no more than 10 people,” won’t have a permanent base in Libya, and it will operate from Brussels, Carmen Romero, a spokeswoman for the defense alliance, was reported as saying by the Associated Press (AP).
Libya has been in turmoil since the end of a civil war that ousted and killed longtime dictator Qaddafi in 2011, with the new security forces still struggling to assert their control over the vast, mostly barren North African country.
NATO sent experts to see how it could help Libya after the country’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan asked the 28-country alliance for technical advice and help.
However, the request for help was given added urgency by Zeidan’s brief kidnapping by militia members this month.
Source: AP
