"Recently NATO has had contact with the political leadership of the interim national council," NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.

She noted that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with the foreign relations officer of the Transitional National Council at an international meeting on Libya in Doha earlier this month.

"In order to improve and enhance these political contacts with the interim national council, NATO is considering whether to have a civilian contact point in Benghazi in support of Operation Unified Protector," Romero said, referring to the name of NATO's mission to protect Libyan civilians from attacks.

The "exact modalities" of the post "still need to be worked out," she added.

A NATO official said ambassadors of the 28-nation alliance would discuss the issue and could decide as early as Wednesday whether to create the position.

The contact point in Benghazi would "liaise informally" with the opposition and exchange information, but the envoy would not be there to coordinate NATO air strikes in Libya, the official said on condition of anonymity.

NATO vowed to remain impartial in the conflict after taking over military operations from a US-led coalition on March 31.

Since then, it has struck scores of Moamer Kadhafi's tanks, rocket launchers and military installations under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians from attacks.

"We are impartial but... our mission is to avoid and prevent the attacks on civilians and until now the ones who have attacked civilians are the pro-Kadhafi forces," the official said.

NATO members France, Italy and Britain announced last week that they were sending military advisers to assist Libya's rebel shadow government in Benghazi.

A NATO diplomat told AFP the alliance has been discussing the possibility of having a presence in Libya "to explain NATO's actions" in an effort at "public diplomacy" in the wake of small demonstrations against NATO.

A friendly fire incident that left four insurgents dead brought 400 people to the streets of Benghazi on April 8. The rebels, for their part, have pressed NATO in recent weeks to intensify the bombing raids against Kadhafi's forces.

earlier related report
US, allies discuss munitions supplies for Libya strikes
Washington (AFP) April 26, 2011 - Washington is in talks with NATO allies to ensure a sufficient supply of munitions for the Libya bombing campaign, the Pentagon said Tuesday, amid reports of a shortage of precision-guided arms.

European allies have not yet asked the US military to replenish stocks of precision-guided bombs or related munitions, spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said.

"There haven't been any requests yet. There have been discussions about munitions," Lapan said.

"Some of the allies are talking about their munitions stores, their capabilities," he said.

The discussions were "looking forward at, you know, the pace of operations, the munitions that they have, their capacity for procuring more, those types of things," he added.

It was not clear whether the US military could resolve the reported shortage of precision-guided bombs as American munitions do not fit on most French and British warplanes.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Britain, France and some other European countries involved in the air campaign were running low on supplies of precision-guided weapons.

France in particular lacked certain components for the "smart bombs," said a military source from a NATO country.

Britain and France are carrying out about half of the bombing raids in Libya with four other countries -- Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Norway -- conducting the rest.

The United States has resisted calls to return to a frontline role in the intervention after handing control to NATO half way through the first month of the campaign.

Italy said Monday it would join in the UN-mandated air strikes, designed to protect civilians from the forces of Libayn leader Moamer Kadhafi.

While NATO has denied any problem with supplies of munitions, French aircraft reportedly were dropping "inert" or dead bombs on some targets, a French aviation weekly reported.

Using inert bombs had the advantage of reducing the risk of possible civilian casualties in an air strike, Air & Cosmos reported, which did not cite any shortage of precision weapons.

In talks on Tuesday at the Pentagon, Britain's Defence Minister Liam Fox was due to discuss the air war in Libya with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News