Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Odyssey Dawn Coalition Partners

Coalition Partners Assume

 More Responsibility in Libya


WASHINGTON – Coalition task force operations in Libya continue to go well,
and partner nations are picking up more of the workload, the chief of staff of Joint
 Task Force Odyssey Dawn told reporters.

“Our efforts have been going well,” Navy Rear Adm. Gerard P. Hueber told
Pentagon reporters by telephone from the USS Whitney in the Mediterranean Sea.
“This is a multiphased operation. Our coalition partners are assuming more and
more responsibility.”

The 13-member coalition has achieved its objective to set up a no-fly zone over
Libya, and no Libyan aircraft has flown in the past 24 hours, Hueber said. Libyan
forces have not used surface-to-air missiles in four days, he added.

Sortie airstrikes have rendered Libya’s air defense “severely degraded or destroyed,
” the admiral said.

Hueber said the coalition’s mission is clear, as mandated in
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973: to protect civilians from attacks
or the threat of attacks, to establisha no-fly zone to protect civilians and prevent
mass atrocities, and to enforce the trade embargo against Libya.

To end the mission, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must stop Libyan forces
from firing on civilians, he said. But forces loyal to Gadhafi continue to advance
on Benghazi on Libya’s northeastern coast, and are not pulling back from Misurata
on the northwestern coast and Ajdabiya, just south of Benghazi, Hueber said.
Widespread reports indicate Gadhafi’s forces continue to fire on civilians and
civilian sites in those cities, he added.

“He must stop advancing on those cities,” Hueber said. “Clearly, Gadhafi’s forces
have not met those requirements and are in clear violation” of the U.N. Security
Council resolution.

“We are pressuring Gadhafi’s forces that are attacking those civilian populations,”
he added. The coalition started out small, but quickly established the no-fly zone,
obtained maritime superiority, put the embargo in place, interdicted ground
forces, suppressed enemy air defenses and put humanitarian operations in place,
Hueber said.

“This is a fully integrated coalition operation,” he said. “Coalition ships, aircraft
and staff are focused on the single mission of enforcing [Resolution] 1973.”

The coalition has “accomplished quite a lot together,” the admiral said, “and will
continue to work together” until the resolution’s objectives are met.

Biographies:
Navy Rear Adm. Gerard P. Hueber
Related Sites:
Special Report: Operation Odyssey Dawn
Video: Hueber Briefing


 

 

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