Libyan rebels put the death toll in two months of fighting Muammar Gaddafi’s forces at 10,000, while Britain has promised to send military advisers to help rebels organise themselves.

The UN said yesterday it has sent food for 50,000 people to western Libya as aid groups scrambled to reach trapped civilians.

One month after Nato allies dropped their first bombs on Col Gaddafi’s forces, there appeared no end in sight to what experts are now warning will be a prolonged military stalemate in which civilians casualties will mount.

But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said London would send “experienced” military officers to rebel-held eastern Libya, though he was at pains to say they would not be involved in training or arming the rebels, or help in planning their military operations.

For his part, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he was “entirely hostile” to the idea of sending ground troops into Libya, even special forces to guide air strikes.

With thousands clamouring to escape the besieged rebel city of Misurata, Britain said it would charter ships to pick up 5,000 migrant workers after a ferry rescued nearly 1,000 on Monday.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy will host talks next month on allowing oil exports from eastern Libya and could provide Libyan rebels with night-vision kit and radars.

The meeting would also try to find ways of using assets owned by Col Gaddafi’s regime that have been frozen around the world in order to aid the rebels and would discuss the thorny issue of arming the Libyan rebels, he said.