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Sweden expects Tuesday Libya mission call: Bildt

The Local Sweden
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Sweden expects Tuesday Libya mission call: Bildt

Foreign minister Carl Bildt believes Sweden may receive a formal request for assistance in the ongoing Libya conflict at an international summit due to be held in London next Tuesday, news agency TT reports.

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Speaking after a meeting in Brussels with NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Bildt said NATO appeared increasingly likely to assume command over the UN-mandated enforcement of a no-fly zone in the North African country.

“That’s the way things are moving,” he said.

Bildt said he had not proposed sending JAS Gripen fighter planes from Sweden to Libya. Instead, he would await a concrete request from the military alliance.

“There’s no lack of airplanes [in Libya] at the moment,” Bildt told reporters. “But we’re not ruling anything out."

Bildt said it was no catastrophe that the coalition had not yet fully defined the desired outcome of the operation, the direction it should take, or who should lead it.

“The coalition has all the resources it needs so there’s no immediate danger,” said Bildt. “It’s important to get this right from the start; otherwise there is a risk it will go wrong later.”

Bildt said it was also essential to clearly identify the situations in which it was permissible to use military force.

“These are important decisions; otherwise it could go very wrong.”

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