UK expels two more diplomats as pressure mounts on Gaddafi

Mr Hague said the diplomats behaviour had become “unacceptable” and they and their families had until next Wednesday to leave the country.

The move follows the expulsion of the country’s ambassador in retaliation for the destruction of the UK embassy in Tripoli by a mob.

The Foreign Office would not give details of the alleged behaviour which led to the expulsions but said it had not posed any immediate threat to UK security.

“It is an example of stepping up diplomatic pressure,” a Number 10 spokeswoman said.

“We have upped the diplomatic pressure by expelling two Libyan diplomats. We have got to keep up the military pressure and the economic pressure.”

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said moving Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is the best way to protect Libya’s civilians.

“We have made it abundantly clear that the best way to protect civilians is for Gaddafi to cease his ruthless, brutal attack on civilians from the west to the east, to withdraw from the cities that he is besieging and attacking and to leave power,” Mrs Clinton said. “This is the outcome we are seeking.”

The meeting of the Libyan Contact Group at the Italian Foreign Ministry was expected to seek ways to give financial support to the rebels, who have indicated they need $1.5bn – £900m – in the coming months.

The meeting of 22 nations involved in Nato’s Libya campaign also includes the Nato chief, the Arab League, the leader of Libya’s opposition council, and the leader of Libya’s opposition council, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who used to be Gaddafi’s Justice Minister.

Mrs Clinton said she would be formally presenting the United States’ pledge to provide $25m – £15m – in surplus, non-lethal goods and commodities to support and protect the rebels.

A Libyan rebel spokesman, Mahmoud Shamam, put the estimated amount of money needed by the rebels in coming months at $1.5bn.

This would only be used for medical and food supplies, running hospitals and electricity, Shamam said in Rome.

The rebels also want to press their case for better weapons and equipment, Shamam suggested, saying that they are “hungry for basic arms.”

Downing Street said that the UK did not intend at present to contribute to any such fund. “We have got no plans to contribute to any particular fund because we think we have made a very substantial contribution to humanitarian assistance.

“We will keep that under review.”

Elsewhere the Ministry of Defence said the Royal Navy had destroyed a mine laid by pro-Gaddafi forces in the besieged rebel-held port of Misrata.

HMS Brocklesby used sonar and the Seafox underwater disposal system to locate and destroy a mine containing more than 100 kilograms of high explosive placed just a mile from the harbour entrance.

It had been taken there by regime forces in an inflatable dinghy, the MoD said, as part of an effort to slow the flow of humanitarian assistance and evacuation attempts.