TRIPOLI, Libya - French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised to boost relations
with long-isolated Libya as he met with the oil-rich country's leader Moammar
Gadhafi on Wednesday as a reward for releasing six Bulgarian medical workers.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's greets Senegalese-born French
Foreign Affairs and human rights Junior Minister Rama Yade, left, while
French President Nicolas Sarkozy stands between at the Bab Azizia Palace
in Tripoli Wednesday, July 25, 2007. [AP]
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Libya is hoping for increased
cooperation with Europe and the United States after it freed the six, who had
been held for more than eight years on charges they infected children with AIDS.
The medics had twice been sentenced to death for allegedly infecting some 426
children in the coastal city of Benghazi in the late 1990s - charges that were
widely denounced abroad as false. Libya commuted their sentences to life in
prison and allowed them to fly to Bulgaria on Tuesday, where they received a
presidential pardon.
During Sarkozy's visit, France and Libya signed wide-ranging cooperation
agreements in areas including defense, health, the fight against terrorism and
civilian nuclear power.
Under a deal sealed by the medics' release, the European Union agreed to a
package of aid for Libya and the prospect of increased trade ties. The Europeans
also said they would encourage contributions to a Libyan fund set up to
compensate families of the children infected with the HIV virus.
In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she hoped to travel
to Libya soon. "I know that American companies are very interested in working in
Libya," Rice also said.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said his country might write off
the $54 million debt owed to it by Libya - although he underlined that it was a
humanitarian gesture that should not be seen as "paying ransom, or admitting
(the medics') guilt."
Libya reacted to the pardon Wednesday, summoning Bulgaria's top diplomat to
the foreign ministry to deliver a note of protest. "The release is in violation
of agreements ... between the two countries," the note said, demanding an
official explanation.
That protest came hours after the organization representing the children's
families denounced the Bulgarian decision.
Sarkozy's visit had been contingent on the release of the medics, whose
freedom he had made a foreign policy priority since taking office in May.
The EU has been negotiating with Tripoli for months, trying to find a
resolution to the crisis. French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy made two trips to
Libya this month to push for the medics' release; on Tuesday, she scored the
coup of flying them home to Bulgaria aboard a French presidential plane.
France and Libya "affirm their desire to give new momentum to bilateral
relations, and to build a strategic partnership between the two countries," the
leaders said in a joint statement.
The countries agreed to boost cooperation on areas including fighting
terrorism, research, education, the economy and migration, the statement said.
They urged stability in Sudan and Chad and "underlined the need to work together
to resolve armed conflicts on the African continent."
One agreement touched on defense cooperation, and in another memo, leaders
pledged to work together on "peaceful applications for nuclear energy," the
statement said. The issue is sensitive, and French anti-nuclear group Sortir du
Nucleaire accused Sarkozy of handing over nuclear technology to the Libyans in
exchange for the nurses.
Bulgaria's pardon of the medical workers brought an angry denunciation from
the Libyan organization representing the children's families.
"We deeply condemn and are deeply disappointed at the absurdity and
disrespect shown by the Bulgarian presidential pardon," the association said in
a statement faxed to The Associated Press. It called on Interpol to have police
arrest the medics again in Bulgaria, "so that they can spend the rest of their
sentences in prison."
But the association avoided any mention of Gadhafi's decision to allow the
medics to return to Bulgaria.
The medical workers denied infecting the children and said their confessions
were extracted under torture. During their trials, international experts
testified that the infections were caused by unclean conditions at the hospitals
where they were treated.
Three medics, meanwhile, said at a news conference in the Bulgarian capital
of Sofia that they would testify against the Libyan officers alleged to have
tortured them.
"We can forgive, but we cannot forget what has happened to us," said Nasya
Nenova, one of the nurses.
Nenova, Kristiana Valcheva and Ashraf al Hazouz said they were ready to
testify against 11 Libyan police officers in a Bulgarian probe of the alleged
torture.
If convicted, the accused will face up to 10 years in prison.
The Libyans will be investigated for allegedly using coercion, torture and
threats to extract the false confessions from the medics, prosecutor Nikolai
Kokinov said.
Libyan officials contend that with the medics' release, the country's slate
with the outside world is clean.
In 2003, Libya accepted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight
103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, and agreed to pay
restitution to the victims. Gadhafi also said he was dismantling his nuclear
weapons program, bringing a major breakthrough in U.S.-Libyan ties. The steps
brought a lifting of U.S. and European sanctions.
Since then, international investment has increased in Libya's oil sector -
its only considerable industry, providing most of its gross domestic product of
nearly $75 billion.
Sarkozy's trip follows a visit in May by former British Prime Minister Tony
Blair, who also worked toward the medics' release.
In July, President Bush nominated an ambassador to Tripoli, where the U.S.
reopened its embassy in May 2006.
But Libya's failure so far to pay the last portion of the $270 million it
promised to families of the Lockerbie victims could hold up a greater warming of
ties with the U.S. Some senators are moving to block upgrading of the embassy
until all reparations are paid.
While the EU appears ready to increase ties to some extent with Libya, an
even closer relationship depends on political reforms that many doubt Gadhafi is
ready to carry out.