The EU imposed its own arms embargo, visa ban and other sanctions on Libya today as part of an escalating global effort to halt Muammar Gaddafi's crackdown on rebels.
In a series of fast-paced developments, France pledged to send two planes with humanitarian aid to Libya's opposition stronghold of Benghazi while Germany considered a two-month cut-off of oil payments to Gaddafi's regime.
The moves came after days of increasing protest against the hundreds, and potentially thousands, of deaths caused by Gaddafi's military resistance against the popular uprising in his country.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the European measures, including a freeze on assets, aimed to reinforce the UN Security Council-mandated sanctions against Libya approved over the weekend.
She said the EU also was putting "an embargo on equipment which might be used for internal repression" and urged coordinated action by nations to help people across North Africa and the Middle East.
A more complex set of negotiations, she added, were being held over the possibility of creating a no-fly zone over Libya.
Foreign ministers gathered in Geneva - including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Baroness Ashton, for a meeting of the UN's Human Rights Council to co-ordinate action against Gaddafi's regime. Mrs Clinton pressed European leaders to enact tough sanctions.
In Paris French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said planes were heading for the eastern city of Benghazi with doctors, nurses, medicines and medical equipment.
"It will be the beginning of a massive operation of humanitarian support for the populations of liberated territories," he said.
Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, proposed cutting off all oil and other payments to Libya for 60 days to make sure that Gaddafi's regime does not get more money to hire mercenaries
The German action is significant because 85% of Libya's oil goes to European customers. Last week, both Britain and Switzerland froze assets belonging to the Libyan leader and his family.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd called on the world to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and compared Gaddafi's violent suppression of opposition forces to genocides in Rwanda, the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and Sudan's Darfur region.
"Right now, our attention is focused on Libya - and rightly so," Baroness Ashton said. "The fact that so many colleagues from across the world have gathered here today tells us something big. That what is going on - the massive violence against peaceful demonstrators - shocks our conscience. It should also spring us into action."