NATO has expressed concern over a report that thousands of missiles have gone missing in Libya after six months of civil war, according to media reports.
The 28-member coalition urged Libya’s transitional authorities to take immediate action to try and secure at least 10,000 surface-to-air missiles, The Associated Press reported.
“It is a matter of concern if stockpiles of weapons are not properly controlled and monitored,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, according to the news agency.
NATO never deployed troops on the ground in Libya and has relied on airstrikes to try and destabilize former leader Moammar Gadhafi’s military. Rasmussen said that it is the responsibility of transitional forces on the ground to recover the missing arms.
“It is the responsibility of the National Transitional Council to ensure that stocks of weapons in Libya are appropriately controlled,” Rasmussen said, according to Reuters.
However, a NATO official told the news agency that it sent personnel to help the transitional government recover the missiles.
The call to action comes a week after a top United Nations official expressed worry that there are still stockpiles of Gadhafi-manufactured chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction not accounted for.
