Brussels (ANTARA News/AFP) - NATO allies have agreed to establish a civilian post in Libya`s eastern rebel bastion of Benghazi in an effort to step up political contacts with the opposition, an alliance source said Wednesday.

Ambassadors of the 28-nation alliance backed late Tuesday the "general principle" of having a "contact point" in the country, and the details of the post will be worked out in the coming days or weeks, the source said.

The alliance representative will likely be a diplomat from a NATO country that already has a representative in Benghazi, the souce added.

NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said Tuesday that the goal was to "improve and enhance these political contacts with the (opposition`s) interim national council."

France and Italy are the only NATO countries to have officially recognised the opposition Transitional National Council. Qatar, which is contributing to NATO`s operations in Libya, has also recognised the TNC.

France, Italy and Britain announced last week that they were sending military advisers to assist Libya`s rebel shadow government in Benghazi.(*)

(U.H-RN)

Editor: Ruslan Burhani
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