NATO explored on Wednesday options for a role after the war in Libya ends, including the possibility of continuing to patrol the country's skies and enforce an arms embargo.

While NATO warplanes are maintaining pressure on diehard remnants of Moamer Kadhafi's regime, alliance ambassadors reviewed in Brussels a set of post-war scenarios presented by military staff, officials said.

Any role for NATO in Libya after hostilities there end would depend on requests from the United Nations, the officials stressed, noting that the alliance wants the UN to take the lead in post-conflict management.

NATO insists that it will not send any ground troops to keep the peace in Libya whenever the war ends. This appears to be a "firm view" maintained by alliance members, a NATO official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"I see the primary area of interest as some form of logistical support" to a UN mission, the official said, adding that this could include a sealift and an airlift.

The military alliance could also maintain its no-fly zone and a maritime arms embargo if the UN requests it, the official said.

NATO has conducted air strikes against Kadhafi forces while warplanes and ships patrolled Libyan skies and waters since March, under a UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians from attacks.

With some regime holdovers still refusing to lay down their arms after rebels took control of Tripoli last week, NATO members agreed that the bombing campaign must continue until Kadhafi troops stop attacking Libyans, the official said.

The NATO mission is operating under a second 90-day mandate that expires on September 27.

Alliance ambassadors put off on Wednesday a decision on whether to extend the operation for another 90 days because "we have the time" to decide while the next steps are explored, the official said.

earlier related report
China sends vice-minister to 'observe' Libya meet
Beijing (AFP) Aug 31, 2011 - China said Wednesday it was sending a vice-minister to "observe" a Paris conference on the future of Libya, whose rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) Beijing has not officially recognised.

Around 60 nations are expected to be represented at Thursday's Friends of Libya conference, to be co-chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron.

US Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all said they will attend, while most other participants said they would send their foreign ministers.

China said it would be represented by its Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun at the meeting, which will seek to address the reconstruction of Libya after months of violence and decades of misrule under Moamer Kadhafi's regime.

France and Britain have invited the head of the NTC and his number two, Mustafa Abdel Jalil and Mahmud Jibril.

China's foreign ministry said Jun would attend "as the representative and observer of the Chinese government".

"China supports relevant parties' efforts to restore the stability of Libya and facilitate the stable transfer of Libya's political power," spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.

"We are also willing to play a positive role in the future rebuilding of Libya together with the international community."

President Sarkozy last week invited China to the meeting during a five-hour visit to Beijing, urging the nation to take part in forming a "unanimous vision among the international community" of Libya's future.

Beijing, which has invested billions of dollars in rail, oil and telecoms in Libya, opposed NATO air strikes and initially maintained a policy of non-interference and public neutrality on the conflict.

But it later began opening contacts with the rebels and said it recognised them as an "important dialogue partner", breaking with its tradition of "non-interference".

After opposition forces entered the capital Tripoli, Beijing said it "respected the Libyan people's choice", but it has stopped short of joining some 50 other nations in formally recognising the NTC.

China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the world's second-largest economy, has made clear it does not want to be left out of decisions on Libya's future.

On Monday, it approved a European request for a UN sanctions committee to release $1.6 billion of frozen Libyan assets to buy humanitarian aid, one day after blocking it.

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