Libya: Nato foreign ministers hold talks in Berlin
Foreign ministers from Nato countries are meeting in Berlin, amid differences among members over the air campaign to protect civilians in Libya.
The UK and France have been pushing for other countries to increase military pressure on Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Air strikes led by the US, France and Britain began last month. Nato has since taken leadership of the mission.
Several key member countries, including Spain and Italy, have not taken part in attacks on ground targets.
Tasks in Nato's Libya mission include policing the arms embargo with ships and enforcing the UN-backed no-fly zone.
The UK and France want more countries involved in the most aggressive role, that of attacking targets on the ground.
Only six out of Nato's 28 members - France, the UK, Canada, Belgium, Norway, Denmark - are conducting air strikes.
There are divisions within the alliance over the campaign, with Turkey and Germany opposed to the Libya mission.
Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez on Thursday said her country would continue to help police the no-fly zone and arms embargo, but reiterated that it would not send combat aircraft to Libya.
Although Italy is also refraining from carrying out air strikes, it allows missions to be flown from its territory.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Benghazi, the rebels' stronghold in eastern Libya, says the Berlin meeting must be seen as a diplomatic counter-offensive by Britain and France to try to increase the tempo, in face of members that are reluctant to do so.
'Renewed atrocities'
The Libya conflict is also being discussed by officials from the African Union and Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Cairo. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Arab League head Amr Moussa are among those attending.
The US has scaled back its role in Libya, though on Wednesday it clarified that US jets were still carrying out bombing raids on Libya's air defences.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is due to attend the meeting in Berlin, condemned the "continued brutal attacks on the Libyan people" by Col Gaddafi's forces.
"In recent days, we have received disturbing reports of renewed atrocities," she said in a statement.
Meeting in Paris late on Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to step up military pressure on Col Gaddafi, a French official said.
The official, who briefed reporters on the meeting, said the coalition should have "all the means it needs", and that it should show "total determination" to end the sieges of the rebel-held western towns of Misrata and Zintan.
"The [rebel] Transitional National Council is not having problems finding the weapons they need and friends to show them how to use them," he added.
The official said France was not arming rebels, but "that doesn't mean we don't sympathise with those who do".
Britain said it was to provide the rebels with 1,000 sets of body armour, and that 100 satellite phones had already been sent.
'Financial piracy'
Libyan Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim accused Qatar of supplying rebels with French-made anti-tank missiles and sending military trainers, reports said.
He also said Lebanese militants from Hezbollah were helping the rebels. The claims could not be immediately verified.
On Wednesday the contact group, which includes Western powers, their Middle Eastern allies and international organisations, met rebel leaders in Doha, Qatar.
It agreed to continue to provide the rebels with "material support", and to consider channelling funds to them.
In Libya on Wednesday rebels reported more heavy fighting in Misrata, where Col Gaddafi's forces have been trying to dislodge them with bombardments and street attacks for weeks.
As the fighting continues, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that more than half of Libya's population of six million might eventually require humanitarian aid.
About 490,000 people had fled Libya since the conflict began in February, he said.
BBC News
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