Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide admitted in Parliament this week that not enough was done to stabilize Libya after the NATO bombing attacks in 2011. Norway was active in the bombing itself, with many of its F16 fighter jets taking part.
It’s been almost eight years since the former left-center government, led by Jens Stoltenberg who’s now secretary general of NATO, agreed to participate in the war in Libya. It led to the fall of the country’s longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, but then the western allies withdrew and the country eventually descended into what’s now often described as anarchy and chaos.
A report released last fall on Norway’s participation concluded that Stoltenberg and his Labour-led government largely followed Norwegian laws and regulations, but Søreide said that there should have been a plan for what would happen afterwards. That’s one of the important lessons from the offensive, she noted, otherwise agreeing that it was also important to act quickly at the time and noting that other key NATO allies supported the effort to topple Gaddafi.
newsinenglish.no staff
