PARIS (AFP/Reuters) - France and Italy joined Britain on Wednesday in sending military advisers to assist Libyas rebel shadow government in its Benghazi stronghold. We are going to help you, Frances President Nicolas Sarkozy told Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libyas Transitional National Council (TNC), which leads the revolt against Moamer Kadhafis 42-year-old rule, aides said. French officials said Sarkozy and Abdel Jalil had discussed stepping up coalition air strikes against Kadhafis forces, and insisted that the rebel leader had not requested support from coalition ground troops. Separately Italy - along with France and Qatar one of only three states to recognise the TNC - announced the dispatch of 10 officers. There is a clear understanding that the rebels have to be trained, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters after meeting British Defence Minister Liam Fox in Rome. The European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council reiterated their support for the Libyan rebel Transitional National Council, in statement after a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. The EU and GCC stressed that Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafis regime has lost its legitimacy and expressed support to the Transitional National Council as a legitimate interlocutor representing the aspirations of the Libyan people, according to a statement. They also called for an immediate and genuine ceasefire in Libya. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has recommended $25 million in US aid for Libyan rebels that would not include arms, the State Department said on Wednesday. Secretary Clinton ... has recommended the president authorize up to $25 million in nonlethal commodities and services, said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. President Barack Obama still opposes sending US ground troops to Libya, the White House said on Wednesday, but he supports a French and British move to dispatch military advisors to help rebels fighting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Meanwhile, the United Nations said on Wednesday that the Libyan governments reported use of cluster munitions and heavy weapons in Misrata has caused substantial civilian casualties and may amount to crimes under international law. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for a halt to the siege of Misrata and condemned the attacks, including a cluster bomb said to have exploded last week several hundred metres from the hospital in the west Libyan city. Meanwhile, the BBC quoted Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi as saying that Libyas government could hold elections, including on the future of leader Muammar Gaddafi, if Western air strikes stopped. If the bombing stopped, Obeidi said, after six months there could be an election supervised by the UN, BBC radio reported on Wednesday. The foreign minister said the election could cover any issue raised by all Libyans, anything could go on the table, including, he implied, the future of Gaddafi as leader. France and Italy joined Britain on Wednesday in sending military advisers to assist Libyas rebel shadow government in its Benghazi stronghold. The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said the government would prevail over rebels trying to oust his father and a new constitution was ready for when the insurgency was defeated, Al Arabiya TV reported on Wednesday. The Dubai-based satellite channel said Saif al-Islam, speaking on Libyan state television, accused the Benghazi-based rebel national council as being motivated by power and oil wealth. Libya will not go back to what it was, Al Arabiya quoted Saif al-Islam as saying. The era of the first Jamahiriya (peoples republic) is gone and a new draft constitution has been prepared. Moreover, rebels said they fought fierce clashes with pro-government troops in the Libyan city of Misrata on Wednesday, and that eight people had been killed the previous day, mostly civilians. There were several checkpoints on the rebel-controlled route from Misratas port towards the centre. A man armed with a hunting rifle stood at one of the checkpoints. Thousands of stranded foreign migrant workers are awaiting rescue in Misratas port area. Fierce fighting is taking place now on the Nakl el Thequeel road which leads to the port. Gaddafi forces have been trying to control this road to isolate the city, Abdelsalam, a rebel spokesman, said earlier. NATO warplanes are flying over Misrata but I do not know if there are strikes, he said by phone from the city. NATO has been inefficient in Misrata.