Berlin: A meeting of foreign ministers from Nato countries on Libya has ended without a commitment from allies to send more strike planes. Neither the US nor Italy have indicated they will respond to calls to join ground attacks.
Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the threat to Libyan civilians would not disappear while Col Muammar Gaddafi was still in power.
Reports suggest pro-Gaddafi forces have been using cluster bombs against the rebel-held city of Misrata.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said its officials had seen the internationally banned munitions – which are dangerous to civilians because they scatter small bomblets over a wide area – fired in residential areas of the western city.
A Libyan government spokesman denied the reports.
Nato pilots are enforcing the current UN resolution to establish a no-fly zone and to protect civilians in Libya, which has effectively been split between forces for and against Col Gaddafi since a revolt against his rule began in mid-February.
The current UN resolution makes no mention of regime change, but an open letter by the US, UK and French leaders on Friday said there could be no peace while Col Gaddafi was in power.
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