Libya mission has cost Canada $26M

Canada's military mission in Libya has cost $26 million and could more than double if it's extended until the fall, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday during a NATO summit in Brussels.

The cost covers fuel for Canada's fighter planes and patrol aircraft taking part in the NATO operation, and includes the more than 300 laser-guided bombs Canadian pilots have dropped on targets in Libya from March 19 to June 2, MacKay said at the start of a two-day meeting of alliance defence ministers.

"Together with our international allies, we have steadily and systematically reduced the ability of the Gadhafi regime to threaten his own population with violence," he told a news conference the same day NATO airstrikes rattled the Libyan capital with eight clusters of bombing runs believed to have targeted the outskirts of Tripoli.

The intensity of the attacks suggested a return to the heavy NATO bombardment of the city on Tuesday that hit military installations across the capital and flattened major buildings in leader Moammar Gadhafi's sprawling compound in the centre of the city.

Canada's cost figures were announced a day after NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged allies to step up their participation in the mission during the four-month-old rebel uprising to oust Gadhafi after four decades in power.

Fogh Rasmussen says the two-day meeting at NATO's Brussels headquarters will aim to push for broader participation by countries in the 28-nation alliance. He also wants more countries to share the costs and risks involved in the campaign.

NATO is not publicly releasing figures on how many nations are involved in the strikes, but it is thought to be around 17.

MacKay told a news conference Wednesday that Parliament will be asked to vote June 15 on whether to extend the mission until the end of September, a move that would push the total cost of the deployment to roughly $60 million.

"Right now we're looking to extend this mission, to mirror the NATO effort and ensure that Canada continues to contribute in a meaningful way," he said.

A release from MacKay's office also said: "Together with our international allies, we have steadily and systematically reduced the ability of the Gadhafi regime to threaten its own population with violence.

"Simply put, Canada's leadership in this mission has protected civilians and saved thousands of civilian lives."

The release noted that the Canadian Forces have 650 personnel on Operation Mobile. Canada's fighter aircraft have flown over 1,750 hours, maritime patrol aircraft have flown over 530 hours and HMCS Charlottetown, with a Sea King aboard, continues to patrol the central Mediterranean.

But although MacKay "is intending and anxious to close the noose on the Libyan leader," CBC's Susan Ormiston reported from Brussells, he has said there would be no intensification of Canada's efforts in Libya, because it's already playing a significant role in the leadership campaign.

Also Thursday, in Geneva at a UN Human Rights Council meeting, Gadhafi's government has denied accusations that Libyan government forces committed crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Libyan diplomat Mustafa Shaban said the government is "the victim of a widespread aggression," and blamed the media, opposition, and African and foreign mercenaries for human rights violations and even "acts of cannibalism."

Shaban told the Human Rights Council that Gadhafi's government would turn over evidence it has obtained.

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said Wednesday he is investigating whether Gadhafi provided Viagra to Libyan soldiers to promote rape. And a UN panel said last week its investigators found evidence that government forces committed murder, torture and sexual abuses.

Meanwhile, the country's main opposition group appealed Thursday to senior officials from the more than 30-member coalition meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for urgent infusions of cash from foreign nations to help support the rebellion against Gadhafi. The coalition consists of countries supporting the rebellion against Gadhafi.

Libya's opposition Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni told the meeting, being held to prepare for the post-Gadhafi era in Libya, that the country would be a "total failure" if financial assistance was not forthcoming.

"Our people are dying," he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. "It's been almost four months now and nothing has materialized so far. Our message to our friends is that I hope that they walk the walk."

Italy has pledged nearly $600 million US.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington would boost its humanitarian aid to all Libyans by $26.5 million and continue to look at ways to assist the opposition.