Bosnia, which came to symbolise Europe's failure to prevent bloodshed on its doorstep , could provide a model for a new era as the world confronts Muammar Gaddafi.

Diplomatic sources say that a structure which has kept the peace in Bosnia could be replicated as the international community enforces the no-fly zone over Libya.

Diplomats in Brussels have become embroiled in bitter exchanges in recent days as they try to establish a command structure for the Libyan operation that would meet Barack Obama's demand to relieve Washington of operational control.

The diplomats are now looking to Bosnia which was famously failed by the European Union in the mid 1990s. The EU finally redeemed itself when it assumed command from Nato of the peace keeping operation in Bosnia in 2004. The EU force, known as Eufor, has been in the lead ever since but is able to draw on Nato assets when needed.

In separate phone calls Tuesday night Barack Obama agreed with David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy that a similar structure would be established to run the no-fly zone over Libya.

Political oversight would be in the hands of members of the international coalition joining the action to enforce the UN security council resolution 1973. Britain, France and the US are in the lead, but the coalition also includes Arab countries such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. This oversight would be akin to the EU's role in Bosnia.

But the military campaign to enforce the no-fly zone would be run by Nato. This could mean that James Stavridis, an American admiral who is Nato's current Supreme Allied Commander Europe, could be in charge of the military operation.

The agreement by Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron will have to be put to all 28 members of Nato. The alliance operates by consensus which means that a raised eyebrow could scupper the plan.

But there were hopes in London and Paris that agreement will be reached, giving Nato the chance to avoid its worst split in years.

An intense debate opened up after Obama, who wants to avoid a repeat of the US-led "shock and awe" tactics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, made clear that Washington would command the campaign only in its early stages.

A clear message was sent across the Atlantic: Nato or a combination of its members with the support of Arab nations would have to take command of the no-fly zone to show the world that the US had no wish to impose its will on a Muslim country.

Sarkozy was keen to establish an Anglo-French command to run the military campaign. Britain was wary of the proposal however, and pushed hard for a clearly defined Nato operation.

"The French want to run this jointly with Britain," a senior Whitehall source said before Tuesday night's agreement. "That is their preference. It is not our preference. We want Nato to deal with this because Nato has the right experience in dealing with multinational teams."

The attempts to broker an agreement on the structure for the first major military action initiated under Obama's presidency started in a scratchy way on Monday when Nato ambassadors in Brussels held what was described as a "truly awful" and "emotional" meeting.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general, prompted a walkout by the French and German ambassadors after suggesting Paris was blocking the alliance and that Berlin was dragging its feet. One observer said: "There were a range of issues related to people's egos."

Tensions were running high even before the meeting opened. Britain and the US were said to be irritated that Sarkozy acted with characteristic impetuosity by launching the first strikes shortly after a summit of decision-makers in Paris on Saturday without properly briefing allies.

Germany, which abstained in the vote at the UN last week, agreed that Nato should have no more than a supporting role. This view was shared by Turkey, Nato's third largest member and a crucial voice in the alliance because of its predominantly Muslim population.

But Ankara and Paris started to give ground over the last 48 hours. Sarkozy accepted that Nato would be in the lead on the military front as Britain and the US accepted that international coalition members and not the alliance would provide political oversight.

Diplomats said that some of the newer members of Nato in eastern Europe put strong pressure on France. The likes of Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states and Belgium made clear that they could help enforce the UN resolution on the no-fly zone as part under a Nato umbrella.

Ankara also adopted what was described as a more flexible approach after a phone call late on Monday between Obama and Tayyip Recep Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister.

Obama, who was grateful for Ankara's role in helping to release four New York Times journalists in Libya, is understood to have impressed Erdogan in listening to his concerns about a western-dominated campaign.

Signs of movement were shown Tuesday when the Nato envoys met again to try to patch over their differences. Rasmussen announced Nato would take charge of the naval flotilla assembled in the Mediterranean to police a UN arms embargo against Libya.

The ships "will conduct operations to monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries. This will be done in close co-ordination with commercial shipping and regional organisations," he said.

The Rasmussen statement said: "Nato has completed plans to help enforce the no-fly zone - to bring our contribution, if needed, in a clearly defined manner, to the broad international effort to protect the people of Libya from the violence of the Gaddafi regime."

Amid the disarray over who should run the air campaign, Norway said it was keeping its aircraft grounded on Crete until it knew who was in charge. Italy, close geographically to Libya, has made seven air bases available for the "coalition of the willing" campaign, but warned that it would put them back under national control if Nato did not take charge.

One observer of Anglo-American military adventures over the last 20 years tried to make light of the impasse. "It's a bit like a barn dance," the source said of the efforts to decide whether and how Nato would run the operation. "Half of the people can't dance, a couple are drunk and then there's always the characters at the back with their hands up various skirts."