Rasmussen: NATO to help Libya in developing security sector

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmusen confirmed on Tuesday that the 28-member Alliance has given a positive response to a Libyan request to help in developing its security structures. "We have received a request from the Libyan government to assist the Libyan authorities in developing their security sector and we have had expert teams working with the Libyan authorities and we are now exploring how exactly we can give that provide that assistance," he told journalists ahead of a meeting with EU Defence Ministers in Brussels. "We have given a positive reply to the Libyan authorities, and will coordinate our assistance with the work of other international organisations and also individual nations," he said. About the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria, Rasmussen said "It's not a discussion we have had in NATO, it is a national decision." "The work on elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons is progressing quite well. Clearly the UN and OPCW are in the lead of that work, and I can also inform that we follow the situation in the NATO-Russia Council and tomorrow we will get a briefing from OPCW, as well as an update from the UN on the work being done," he said. On Afghanistan, Rasmussen said "we know we still need to sort out a couple of issues, but I'm quite confident that the Loya Jirga will give a go to the Bilateral Security Agreement because the Afghans know well that it is a pre-requisite for the deployment of a post-2014 mission to Afghanistan." "This agreement has to happen between the USA and Afghanistan, and as far as NATO is concerned, a Status of Forces Agreement which will hopefully follow an approval of the Bilateral Security Agreement. I think that the Afghans know that they will need continued training, advice and assistance of their own security forces and it is necessary that we have a legal framework in place," he added.