The defense minister of France has indicated that in order to remove Moammar Gaddafi from power in Egypt, a new resolution would have to be drafted by the UN Security Council.

Gerard Longuet appeared to be responding to a joint letter signed by the leaders of the US, France and UK that declared that the campaign in Libya will not cease until Gaddafi is toppled. (The current UN resolution on Libya called for a no-fly zone over the country and efforts to protect civilians, but did not specifically seek a regime change in Tripoli).

Longuet told French radio that ousting Gaddafi would be beyond the scope of the current UN mandate.

Beyond resolution 1973, certainly it didn't mention the future of Gaddafi but I think that three major countries saying the same thing is important to the United Nations and perhaps one day the Security Council will adopt a resolution, he said.

Meanwhile, the NATO alliance appears to be wracked by dissension, with some member nations calling for more aggressive action against Gaddafi, and others wanting to scale back their operations.

Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, and William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, are reportedly negotiating in Berlin with other NATO countries to increase the number of aircraft they will contribute to launch air strikes on Gaddafi’s military targets.

At the moment, only a handful of NATO's 28 members - including France, the UK, Canada, Belgium, Norway and Denmark - are carrying out air strikes in Libya.

For example, Italy appears to have ruled out sending fighter jets to bomb Libya.

While the Italian government has made its air bases available to NATO forces, the aircraft it has provided are only designed for reconnaissance and monitoring.

The current line being followed by Italy is the right one and we are not thinking about changing our contribution to the military operations in Libya, Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters in Rome.

However, the chief of NATO, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said he is committed the maintaining the bombing campaign in Libya as long as civilians remain in danger.

And it's impossible to imagine that threat [will] disappear with Gaddafi in power, Rasmussen added.

He is also certain that more NATO members will provide more aircraft for the operation.

We have got indications that nations will deliver what is needed... I'm hopeful that we will get the necessary assets in the very near future, he said in Berlin.

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