Paris, Sep 2 (IANS/RIA Novosti): Participants of a conference on the reconstruction of Libya have approved the continuation of NATO air operations until the threat posed by Muammar Gaddafi is extinguished, French President Nicholas Sarkozy said.

"We agreed to continue NATO air strikes until Gaddafi and his supporters cease to represent a threat to Libya," Sarkozy said after the talks Thursday.

Sarkozy also said the conference participants wanted the NATO operations in Ivory Coast and Libya to be the start of a policy of UN-approved campaigns to "defend civilian populations" facing attack by "their own leaders".

Leaders and envoys from 60 countries and world organisations such as the UN and NATO met in Paris Thursday for talks with Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) on the future of the North African state.

The rebel NTC is now in control of most of the country, with just a few pockets of resistance remaining from forces loyal to Gaddafi.

Earlier Thursday, Gaddafi urged his followers to continue fighting "foreign aggression" and said his enemies were divided, in a message carried by a Syria-based channel.