They did not provide details but said Friday there were unconfirmed reports that the US administration's point man for non-proliferation, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security John Bolton, would be coming.

Inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as the United States and Britain have visited Libya since the country made a surprise announcement last month, following secret talks with London and Washington, that it had agreed to dismantle its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The US administration of George W. Bush has accused the IAEA of rushing into Libya, suggesting that Washington wants its own inspectors to play a larger role in verifying Libya's disarmament.

Officials at the Vienna-based IAEA refused to comment Friday on any specifics.

But IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told AFP: "We are coordinating closely with the British, US and other governments to ensure a common understanding or our respective operational roles with regard to Libya's implementation of its bilateral and international commitments for the elimination of its WMD and related capabilities.

"Discussions are continuing over the coming days," Gwozdeck said.

He added in a defense of the IAEA's role as the international community's sole institution mandated to inspect nuclear programs: "The agency's verification responsibilities under the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) are clear."

The IAEA, which is monitoring Iran's atomic program and did this in Iraq as well until the war and US occupation there, is clearly concerned about maintaining its role.

A Vienna-based diplomat said there were "hurt feelings" at the IAEA when the United States and Britain surprised the world, and the agency, with the agreement they won December 19 from Tripoli to abandon biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs.

The New York Times in December quoted a senior US official who called IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's visit to Libya shortly after the agreement "a badly advised' public relations exercise at a time when the US Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's MI6 spy agency were developing strong bonds with Libya's military and intelligence chiefs."

He added that ElBaradei "has (only) got a minuscule percentage of the knowledge" about the full assortment of Libya's illicit weapons programs, therefore "he has a role, but only with the technical aspects" of verifying the dismantling of the Libyan nuclear programme.

The IAEA however wants to remain "the sole agency monitoring nuclear proliferation," the Vienna-based diplomat said.

"They don't want to be excluded. They want to perpetuate themselves as an organization," he said.

Gwozdecky said new IAEA teams would be visiting Libya in January.

A Western diplomat said the teams would leave next week.

Meanwhile, the United States, which has not had an embassy in Libya since the 1980s, is considering setting up an office there to give US inspectors there logistical, technical and secretarial support.

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