Canada To Extend Libya Mission Next Week

Canadian Forces will stick around for another three months as the cleaning up after six months of war begins.

Despite the bulk of military operations in Libya winding down following the collapse of the Gadhafi regime, Canada's involvement will be extended by another three months once Parliament sits next week. While the NDP has said it will vote against the extension, the Conservatives have confirmed to CTV that they will pass it. Libyan diplomats to Canada say the country needs the extra security while the remnants of Gadhafi's forces are tracked down and brought to justice. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has also confirmed that the Canadian embassy in Tripoli is about to be reopened, and that some $2 billion in Libyan assets will be unfrozen for the new regime. Meanwhile, representatives of the National Transitional Council say that the new Libya will rebuff any attempt to turn the country into a land of Islamic extremism. Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Libya's de facto president, said that the 90 per cent of the country's population that is made up of moderate Muslims will make certain that Islamists (and secularists) are kept to the margins of society.