Middle Eastern, European and the US governments were to meet Wednesday in Qatar to hash out a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Libya as rebels there warned that Moamer Gaddafi's regime was preparing what could be a devastating attack on a rebel-held western city of 500,000 people, DPA reported.
The Libya Contact Group was to meet in Doha two weeks after its founding and more than three weeks after an international military intervention began in the North African country.
Most of the countries that were to attend the meeting were participating in the military operation. The group consists of about 40 countries as well as international organizations like the United Nations, NATO and the Arab League.
Members of Libya's rebel-run Interim Transitional National Council as well as Gaddafi's former foreign minister Musa Kusa, who defected to Britain two weeks ago, were also invited. Representatives of Gaddafi's government were not expected.
Ahead of the talks, rebels on the council said Tuesday that Gaddafi's regime was "accelerating attacks on Misurata" and warned he might be planning a "potentially devastating attack" on the besieged city while Britain and France criticized the international military effort as not doing enough.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron met Tuesday night in Paris as their governments sought to move other NATO countries engaged in the Libya operations to take a harder stance against Gaddafi's troops.
Too few airstrikes are being carried out on his forces, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told France Info public radio, adding that NATO should "destroy the heavy weapons that are bombarding the city of Misurata."
NATO, which took over command of the Libya operations 10 days ago, was doing its job insufficiently, Juppe charged.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also said NATO must step up its engagement. "A huge amount has been achieved" but "we must maintain and intensify our efforts in NATO," he said.
The Libyan opposition made similar complaints last week, but NATO on Tuesday rebuffed the criticism that it was being too timid.
"We know we are having an effect," Brigadier General Mark van Uhm, a senior NATO military officer, said in Brussels. "Pro-Gaddafi forces cannot fight where they want, they cannot fight how they want and they cannot use the weapons they want."
The United States also expressed confidence in NATO. "We believe that NATO is more than capable of carrying out its mission and in fact they are carrying it out successfully," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
The debate was being conducted as the Libya Contact Group was to focus Wednesday on how to bring an end to the conflict pitting Gaddafi's forces against rebels, a standoff that increasingly appeared heading toward a stalemate while a humanitarian crisis escalates.
Another conference on the Libyan crisis was to follow Thursday in Cairo.
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