France sells $405m weapons to Libya

France and Libya sign arms deal



Mr Sarkozy met Mr Gaddafi after six Bulgarian medics were freed

Libya has signed contracts with France to buy anti-tank missiles and radio communications equipment worth $405m (£199m), Libyan officials have said.


The arms agreement is Libya's first with a Western country since a European Union embargo was lifted in 2004.

France has confirmed the missile deal - the larger of the two.

Last month Libya agreed to release six Bulgarian medics convicted of infecting children with HIV. France denies that the move was linked to any arms deal.

Libyan officials, speaking to reporters anonymously, said Libya was purchasing Milan anti-tank missiles worth $230m and radio communications equipment worth $175m.

Both contracts were secured by subsidiaries of the European aerospace and defence giant EADS, they said.

EADS and French Defence Minister Herve Morin confirmed that the sale of the anti-tank missiles had been agreed.

The firm said the deal had been reached after 18 months of talks.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing questions over the timing of the deal with Libya, coming so soon after his government helped secure the release of the medics.


France's opposition Socialist leader Francois Hollande has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the negotiations between France and Libya.

Normalised ties

The five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian-born doctor were freed on 24 July and flown to Bulgaria after years of negotiations that concluded with French mediation.


The deal to release the medics was concluded with French help

They were released in exchange for medical assistance and the normalisation of ties between Libya and the EU.

The following day Mr Sarkozy met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli and signed agreements on a range of issues including security, health care and immigration.
Mr Sarkozy's office has denied that any arms agreements were signed during that visit.

The six medics, who spent eight years in jail in Libya, had always maintained they were innocent, saying their confessions were extracted under torture.
They were allowed to go to Bulgaria last month, after their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. On their arrival in Bulgaria, they were pardoned by the president.
Libya began emerging from international isolation in late 2003, when it surrendered its nuclear and other banned weapons research.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6928880.stm

[UsualSuspect]

Gaddafi is insane. I was watching him on TV walking next to Sarkozy. Sarkozy like all human being would look at the ground to make sure he didn't trip and fall, meanwhile right next to him Gaddafi, who walked with his head straight (couldn't see the ground) looked like a robot walking.

[Asclepius]

What the hell are they doing that is a hundred times worse then bin laden, during the civil war in Lebanon he use to pay 500$ for every man that brings Christian head to the Libyan embassy

[alphaq]

i think they are giving them the weapons as a peace offering for those bulgarian nurses that they negotiated last week

Originally Posted by Asclepius

What the hell are they doing that is a hundred times worse then bin laden, during the civil war in Lebanon he use to pay 500$ for every man that brings Christian head to the Libyan embassy

He has been rehabilitated and he is no longer a danger to the western world!

The guy is a big cocaine junkie. He opened an embassy in Colombia a few years ago so he could have cocaine sent to him through diplomatic bags that could not be searched by authorities.

Then he came up with the idea of making money by smuggling drugs into the USA VIA the Libyan emabssies. Since the diplomatic bags, containers can not be x-rayed or opened he thought he could get away with it.

Everything was going well and he was making a decent profit till a dog in a U.S airport sniffed one of the bags and started barking like crazy, so the bag was confiscated and the Libyan embassy was notified to come and open the bag It was a big embarassment for the Libyan when Cocaine was descovered in the diplomatic bags Ofcourse they blamed the whole thing on the CIA and the U.S government and said it was a conspiracy that was done to make Gaddafi look bad!