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OANA LUNGESCU (NATO Spokesperson): And we'll go to Brussels first with three questions
and then to Naples. Reuters.
Q: Yes, Admiral, David Brunnstrom from Reuters. I just wonder if I could ask you: "The IOM
has been appealing to NATO to allow its ship to dock in Misrata. I understand he was still
looking for the mine. But is there any particular reason that that mine should threaten that
ship. What is your response to the appeal from the IOM?"
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: In the beginning, I would like to say that the port of Misrata
is not closed. What we are doing is performing every effort to render that area as safe as
possible. We are now still looking for that floating mine.
When that finishes and if we didn't find it, then we should try to create a corridor, a
safe-corridor into the port. We are working with the commercial shipping so that all traffic
is informed properly. Then it is a master's decision to decide whether he wants to enter
or not.
OANA LUNGESCU: ZDF.
Q: Kai Niklasch ZDF German Television. Can you give us an idea how the situation in Misrata
is itself.... Are there parts that are under control of Qadhafi troops? Are there parts
that are under control of the opposition? How would you describe the situation? At the
moment, how would you evaluate the situation? Is there clear access to Misrata harbour despite
of this one mine that is floating and missing? VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: Yes, I will reply
to your last question first. Besides the mine issue, for the moment, there is clear access
into the port of Misrata. As far as the first part of your question, I can say that thanks
to the continuous military action which has been undertaken vis-à-vis the port of Misrata
and the city of Misrata, the port is still quite safe and the anti-Qadhafi forces have
succeeded in expanding the perimeter of their control. However, the situation is still very
critical and there is heavy shelling going on.
OANA LUNGESCU: Have we got any other questions in Brussels? AFP.
Q: (Inaudible)... the situation is still critical and that there is heavy shelling going on,
you mean permanently? And what is NATO doing then to stop that to happen?
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: NATO is doing what its mission is dictating. And that is to continue
pushing and putting pressure on all pro-Qadhafi regime targets. Therefore, we keep targeting
any capability of the Qadhafi regime to be able to guide his men to attack his own population.
To that end, I just mention that three self-propelled howitzers were destroyed last night. And that
is very good news.
OANA LUNGESCU: We can go to Naples now for the next three questions. And then we'll come
back to Brussels.
Q: Martino Villosio, Associated Press. Even knowing that you are more focussed on maritime
operation, I wish to know if you can provide us with more information on why the compound
where Qadhafi’s son was allegedly killed has being targeted by NATO.
And the second question: are aware of any activities of al-Qaeda in Libya nowadays?
What is the role al-Qaeda is playing and knowing that yesterday, the day before yesterday,
Bin-Laden has been killed.
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: I want to make it clear. And I repeat what was said that
we do not target individuals. So what NATO bombarded was surely an installation from
where Qadhafi or his men were able to conduct or guide his forces towards attacking the
civilian population.
As far as your second question is concerned, I'm not aware of any specific action of al-Qaeda.
But we must know that in any environment where there is instability and confusion, criminal
organizations and terrorist activities are very prone to dwell.
MODERATOR: No more questions from Naples.
Q: (...) Clearly very grave in Misrata. … finding that it's somehow much more difficult than
elsewhere to stop the shelling? Could you expand a little bit on the difficulties that
are perhaps facing … in targetting or … the ordnance being fired. And secondly the overall
mission, Colonel Qadhafi doesn't appear to be showing any signs of particular fatal weakness.
Is there any sense yet of on what the end game to all of this is? Thank you.
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: A mission of this type is a deliberate mission and therefore
takes time. After neutralizing the frontline forces, the Qadhafi forces now have split
out. We are aware that they're hiding, they are camouflaging. So it is getting all the
more difficult to be able to exactly discover their positions. But we are still doing it.
At the same time, we are taking great care in ensuring that no civilian population or
entities are close to where we are going to attack.
Having said that, every day, something positive happens. And with our air strikes, with our
arms embargo, with our protection of the Libyan people, we take a step closer to the final
objective we have to reach.
OANA LUNGESCU: AP in the second row here.
Q: Yes...
OANA LUNGESCU: AP
Q: Sorry.
Q: Admiral, Slobodan Lekic from the Associated Press. Just to expand on this question from
my colleague from BBC, the frontline seemed to have stabilized. There seems to be a stalemate
now in the frontlines. The bombing doesn't seem to be affecting that very much in the
last couple of weeks. Do you think that at some point, these continuing air raids will
start becoming counter-productive?
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: I personally don't think there is a real stalemate. Let's say
that we are going slowly but steady. And after attacking the frontline forces, now we're
trying to get hold of everything that he can use to supply his frontline forces. So we
are talking about ammunition depots. We're talking about his logistic lines. We're talking
about his command and control centres. We're talking about lines of communications. So
I would say that this is a work, a job that is... it needs patience; it needs determination.
But we still have to keep going on and we are still moving forward.
OANA LUNGESCU: We had a follow-up question from Jadev (?).
Q: Well, I'm just curious whether there is any chance to get to know whether there is
a strategy change. We've heard from Oana and before that some important things might happen
during the next few days. Can you give us an idea whether there is any change in your
strategy?
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: I beg your pardon. I didn't understand. You're speaking about
NATO strategy or the pro-Qadhafi regime strategy?
Q: Oh, your strategy, NATO.
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: Our mission is quite clear for now. We have an air campaign
to run and a maritime campaign. And we are still head on that.
OANA LUGESCU: AFP.
Q: My question... Pascal Mallet, AFP again. My question is a follow-up to those of my
colleagues which are all around the same question. How long should it last if you say that we
need patience? How many weeks, months, years? Have you any expectation? Or you don't have
any idea of how long it would last?
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: In our opinion, it should last the time it needs to last.
In the sense that it will last till Qadhafi stops attacking his own civilians, till all
his military, paramilitary, mercenaries and vehicles retreat back to their bases, until
the humanitarian aid is allowed to flow without any... safely and without any hindrance.
OANA LUNGESCU: I don't see any other questions. We've got a question at the back to answer.
Q: David Sanger, from the New York Times. I wonder if you could tell me, given the mission
that you've described, what would be necessary to get people to go back to their bases? Is
that something that in your estimation you could do by air power? Or at some point, are
you going to require some kind of ground troops in order to be able actually force people
back in their bases and to stay there?
VICE ADMIRAL RINALDO VERI: At the moment, we assess we can obtain, we can achieve the
objective with the air power and the maritime campaign going on. The future... We can't
foresee the future at the moment. And that will be studied as the requirement comes.
OANA LUNGESCU: I think these are all the questions I can see in Brussels, unless there are more
questions from Naples of course. (...)
UNIDENTIFIED: That's it. Now, thank you.
MODERATOR: There are no more questions in Brussels, Madam.
OANA LUNGESCU: So thank you very much Vice Admiral Veri for your precious time. Thank
you very much to everyone in Naples.