And for the first time, Qatar put the question of supplying arms to the rebels on the table, but no agreement was reached.
The developments came at a meeting in Rome that appeared to bolster the NATO-led military intervention. Hosted by Italy and Qatar, it brought together officials representing two dozen NATO nations, Arab countries and international organizations.
The meeting was aimed at intensifying diplomatic and financial pressure on Colonel Qaddafi’s government. The military operation, which to critics seems stalled, has largely succeeded in its stated mission of stopping the advance of his forces but has not done enough to stop indiscriminate shelling in cities like Misurata and Zintan or to force Colonel Qaddafi to step down.
“We shall not leave a divided and insecure Libya as a playground for Qaddafi’s mercenaries,” said Italy’s foreign minister, Franco Frattini. “Our message must be that we shall keep up the pressure, using all legitimate means and with the aim also of convincing Qaddafi’s entourage to join the many who have already defected.”
Above all, the international officials said they would create a special fund of hundreds of millions of dollars to allow humanitarian and other financial assistance to flow into rebel-controlled parts of Libya despite United Nations sanctions that apply to Colonel Qaddafi’s government.
Libya’s opposition has asked for billions of dollars’ worth of help, including cash to pay salaries and provide services in the parts of the country under the control of the rebels, led by a group called the Transitional National Council.
On Thursday, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, said that the country would put $400 million to $500 million into the fund, and that Kuwait had put in $180 million. “I don’t think we have shortage of money, we had shortage of mechanism,” Mr. Thani said. “Now, we agreed on the mechanism, that’s what was important.”
Mr. Frattini and Mr. Thani said the fund would be managed by a five-member steering board composed of three Libyans chosen by the Transitional National Council; a representative of Qatar; and a representative from either Italy or France on a six-month rotating basis.
A senior opposition official, Mahmoud Jibril, also attended the meeting in Rome and met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “We are more than content and satisfied with the results,” he said after the meeting.
The meeting appeared to represent a turning point in the debate over arming the rebels, which hinges on the interpretation of a United Nations resolution allowing for the self-defense of the Libyan people.
“A few weeks ago, nobody was talking about defending the Libyans or giving the means to defend themselves, but now I think that it’s more accepted,” Mr. Thani said. “Some of the countries already started this, and we support this idea that we let the Libyan people defend themselves on the ground because we cannot help them from the air.”
It is widely believed that Qatar has already supplied the rebels in eastern Libya with rifles and other light weapons.
The difficulty in providing concrete support outside of NATO air power reflects the diplomatic and legal complications and confusion that have dogged the international intervention in Libya since it began with a barrage of missile strikes on March 18.
“Clearly on our agenda is looking for the most effective way to deliver financial assets and other means of supporting and helping” the opposition’s loosely organized political and military forces, Mrs. Clinton said.
When the United Nations Security Council first imposed sanctions on Colonel Qaddafi in February, the Treasury Department seized $33 billion in assets belonging to him, his family or his aides from American financial institutions. It was the largest American seizure of foreign assets in history.
American laws, like those in Europe, prohibit simply unfreezing such assets. Mrs. Clinton said that the administration was asking Congress for legislation that would allow some of the frozen assets to help the Libyan people.
The Libyan government dismissed as illegal any American effort to give the frozen assets to the rebels, Reuters reported. “Any use of the frozen assets is like piracy on the high seas,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim. The rebels are not a legal entity, he said, adding, “They are not a country.”
Several countries have pledged humanitarian aid to the provisional rebel leaders, but only France, Italy and Qatar have officially recognized them as Libya’s legitimate government. That complicates financial support to a country that remains under the United Nations sanctions, which are intended to restrict the flow of money, oil and weapons to Colonel Qaddafi.
The new fund announced here in Rome was intended to circumvent the sanctions, but the officials who gathered did not specify exactly how the fund would work. Mrs. Clinton noted that the United States had authorized $25 million in nonlethal military surplus, including uniforms, binoculars and boots, and $66 million more in humanitarian aid.
There is also the possibility that Libya will need far more aid in the near future. The World Food Program said Thursday that the country could run out of food in six to eight weeks, as the government-run distribution system crumbles. The situation could be particularly acute in the rebel-held east, the group’s executive director, Josette Sheeran, told Reuters.
Last week, a NATO strike on a military compound in Tripoli killed one of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons. Asked Thursday whether the United States would consider an operation against Colonel Qaddafi, along the lines of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Mrs. Clinton said no.
“The best way to protect civilians is for Qaddafi to cease his ruthless, brutal attacks on the cities, to withdraw from the cities that he is attacking and leave power,” she said.
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