Nato said today it would keep bombing Libya even in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan if Col Muammar Gadafy's forces continued to threaten civilians, but it wanted a pragmatic solution to the war as soon as possible.
"We need to wait and see whether the Gadafy forces continue to shell and inflict harm on the people of Libya," Nato military spokesman wing commander Mike Bracken said, when asked if the campaign would continue during Ramadan, which falls in August this year.
"If they do and we believe that there is risk to the lives of the Libyan people ... Nato would use the mandate it has to protect those lives."
Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the alliance hoped Col Gadafy's forces would end their attacks, not just in Ramadan, but immediately, and wanted to see progress at a meeting of the Contact Group on Libya on Friday in Istanbul.
"As we've said from the start, there has to be a political solution to this conflict and the sooner it comes, the better.
"The Contact Group can make a critical contribution to the search for a political solution which responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people," Ms Lungescu said.
Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will attend the meeting together with foreign ministers from Western and Arab governments and leaders of the Libyan opposition, hoped it would come up with "realistic and pragmatic" ideas, she said.
Last week Libyan deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said a solution to the conflict could be found before the start of Ramadan and Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu expressed hope that a framework for a solution could be found.
France's foreign minister Alain Juppe said today widespread discussions were under way to bring the crisis to an end and that "emissaries" said the Libyan leader was ready to leave power.
After nearly four months of Western bombing led by France and Britain, international leaders are puzzling how to end a war in which the rebels have failed to land a decisive blow.
French defence minister Gerard Longuet said at the weekend the rebels should start direct talks with Col Gadafy's camp, underlining growing restlessness about the stalemate.
Diplomats say envoys from Paris and Tripoli have met in Paris, Brussels and Tunisia in recent weeks, but have made little progress.