The Netherlands will continue to participate in the NATO mission in Libya until the end of September. On Friday, the government decided to supply six more members of staff.

According to Defence Minister Hans Hillen there was no reason to make any other changes to the Dutch contribution to the operation. “The Netherlands is already doing a lot,” he said after a cabinet meeting of Friday. At the end of last week, NATO decided to extend the mission until the end of September.

NATO had called on countries to take on a bigger role and to take part in the bombing of land targets in Libya. However, the Dutch government is not in favour of joining these kind of activities. The Dutch already have 200 troops, six F-16 fighter planes and a minesweeper in the region. The F-16s are policing the no-fly zone above Libya but are not involved in attacking targets on the gound.

NATO began the mission in March following a UN resolution to protect civilians after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi began an offensive against civilians in response to uprisings in the east of the country.

(nc/mw)

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