Foreign ministers from Nato countries are due to meet in Berlin, with Libya at the top of the agenda.

北约各国外交部长将齐聚柏林，利比亚局势将作为首要讨论问题。

The UK and France have been pushing for other countries to increase the military pressure on Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Air strikes led by the US, France and Britain began last month. Nato has since taken leadership of the mission.

Ahead of the Berlin talks, the "contact group" on Libya issued a statement calling on Col Gaddafi to stand down（退职） .

The BBC's Stephen Evans reports from Berlin that foreign ministers will be trying to find a coherent（连贯的，一致的） strategy whilst holding different views over what the role of armed force from outside should be.

Tasks in the Libya mission include policing the arms embargo¹ with ships and enforcing the no-fly zone, which involves flying but not attacking targets on the ground.

The UK and France want more countries involved in the most aggressive role, that of attacking targets on the ground, with the obvious candidates being Italy and Spain, our correspondent says.

'Renewed atrocities²'

The US has scaled back its role in Libya, though on Wednesday it clarified that US jets were still carrying out bombing raids on Libya's air defences.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is due to attend the meeting in Berlin, condemned³ the "continued brutal⁴ attacks on the Libyan people" by Col Gaddafi's forces.

"In recent days, we have received disturbing reports of renewed atrocities," she said in a statement.

Meeting in Paris late on Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to step up military pressure on Col Gaddafi, a French official said.

The official, who briefed reporters on the meeting, said the coalition⁵ should have "all the means it needs", and that it should show "total determination" to end the sieges（围攻，包围） of the rebel-held western towns of Misrata and Zintan.

The official said France was not arming rebels, but "that doesn't mean we don't sympathise（同情，共鸣） with those who do".

"The [rebel] Transitional National Council is not having problems finding the weapons they need and friends to show them how to use them," he added.

Britain said it was to provide the rebels with 1,000 sets of body armour⁶, and that 100 satellite phones had already been sent.