NATO on Gaddafi's Whereabouts: Don't Know, Don't Care

A TV grab taken from Al Arabiya channel on 23 August 2011 shows smoke rising in the sky during clashes in Tripoli Libya, early 23 August 2011. EPA/BGNES

The unknown location of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi are not a problem of NATO and do not really matter, according to a spokesperson of the Alliance.

"Where is Gaddafi? If you know let me know. We don't know. I don't have a clue and I'm not sure actually that it really does matter... He is not a key player anymore," NATO spokesperson Col Roland Lavoie said at a press briefing at the Alliance base in Naples, Italy, Tuesday afternoon, amidst violent clashes between Libyan rebels and Gaddafi loyalists in Tripoli.

Col Lavoie did agree that Gaddafi's capture would have a symbolic meaning but stressed that the main job of NATO – which is continuing its air strikes against targets of the Gaddafi regime – such as the dictator's compound – was to protect civilians.

NATO forces have intensified bombardments of Col Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, according to reports of Al Jazeera.

"A brief appearance at the dead of night doesn't indicate to me somebody who is in control of a country, or capital, or of anything much at all really," another NATO spokesperson, Oana Lungescu commented on the Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's surprise appearance in Tripoli last night, hours after the rebels claimed they had captured him.

On March 19, 2011, NATO-led international forces started air and rocket strikes against the Gaddafi regime under a UN Security Council mandate.

Operation Odyssey Dawn was the US code name for the US part of the international military operation in Libya to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 during the initial period of 19–31 March 2011, which continued afterwards under NATO command as Operation Unified Protector.

The initial operation implemented a no-fly zone that was proposed during the 2011 Libyan civil war to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on anti-Gaddafi forces.

The US initially had strategic command of the military intervention but passed complete military command of the operation to NATO and took up a support role on 31 March 2011. 

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