US officials meet Libyan opposition leaders in Cairo

The US has said that its officials met with opposition leaders of Libya as part of its effort to have a "better understanding" of the situation in the North African country, facing violent clashes between strongman Muammar Gaddafi's forces and outgunned rebels.

"(The US) Ambassador (to Libya) Gene Cretz, over the past few days, was in Rome and Cairo for multiple meetings both with the Italian Government officials, Egyptian Government officials, but also with opposition figures within Libya to gain a greater understanding and perspective on what's happening," State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news conference.

Without giving details of the opposition figures whom Cretz met, Crowley said the he had the meetings in Cairo.

"We have had meetings and phone conversations with members of the National Transitional Council," he said in response to a question.

Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa had also spoken with US Assistant Secretary Jeff Feltman over telephone on March 4.

"They had a brief conversation which touched on the ongoing situation in Libya," Crowley said, during which there was no discussion of the status of the Libyan Ambassador to the United States.

"Musa Kusa called to say hello, and he did not bring up the status of the ambassador. Neither did the Assistant Secretary Feltman. So our review is ongoing, he said, adding, "They just  talked about the situation in Libya from the point of view of the Qadhafi regime."

On the issue of arming the opposition forces, the State Department spokesman said if a decision in that regard was taken, US would approach the UN Security Council, which has currently placed an arms embargo on Libya.

"There is a UN Security Council resolution that establishes an arms embargo in Libya. The UN Security Council resolution established a sanctions committee. And with any sanctions regime, there's always the option to go before the sanctions committee and ask for a waiver.

"So if at some point we decided it was appropriate to take a certain action, there is a procedure in place to either waive or amend the existing UN Security Council resolution," Crowley added.