Senior Nato leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy are expected in Libya for their first talks since Col Muammar Gaddafi was ousted¹.

利比亚前总统卡扎菲被驱逐之后，包括法国总统萨科奇在内的多位北约高级首脑将进入利比亚进行首次会谈。

They will meet the head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) and other anti-Gaddafi figures.

NTC chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil has pledged "the leaders... will be safe".

They will fly first to Tripoli and then to the former rebel stronghold of Benghazi, where there will be speeches in Liberty Square, reports say.

The French president is expected to be accompanied by Bernard-Henri Levy², the philosopher seen by many observers as a driving force behind Mr Sarkozy's decision to take military action in Libya.

Meanwhile, the UK has circulated a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would ease UN sanctions against Libya.

For its part, the US said it was encouraged by the increasing control the NTC was exercising over security forces in the country.

Nato has been carrying out air strikes under a mandate³（授权，命令） from two UN resolutions to protect Libyan civilians⁵.

'All the gold'

Thursday's visit had been under consideration for several weeks, says the BBC's Christian⁶ Fraser in Paris: Initially⁷ the plan had been to wait until security had improved across Libya, but clearly the visit was brought forward to show support for the NTC after its arrival in Tripoli at the weekend.

The French leader is travelling with 160 security officers, mostly from the specialist CRS riot squad⁸, adds our correspondent. They have been given instructions to travel in civilian⁴ clothes with backpacks containing three litres of water, rations⁹（给养） and a bullet-proof vest.