An alleged weapon-deal with Lybia?

International Herald Tribune

EADS confirms it is selling military equipment to Libya

European Aeronautic Defense & Space confirmed Friday that it was close to signing two weapons contracts with the government of Libya, which would be the first arms deal with the North African country since the European Union lifted military sanctions nearly three years ago.
Word of the contracts, worth €296 million, or $405 million, by some reports, came just a week after President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and his wife, Cécilia, visited Tripoli, visits that contributed to the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who had spent more than eight years in prison for supposedly deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS. The case had long strained Libya's relations with the European Union.

EADS the huge aerospace and weapons manufacturer, parent of Airbus, also said it was close to completing the sale of a secure radio communications system to the Libyan military. French media reports valued the deals at €168 million and €128 million, respectively, citing unidentified Libyan officials. EADS declined to attach a value to the deal and said the two contracts had yet to be signed.

The French government denied Friday that any direct bargain for weapons contracts had been made with Libya to secure the release of the medics during Sarkozy's visit.

The timing of the announcement has already begun to tarnish Sarkozy's diplomatic coup over the medics, which has been seen as paving the way to a normalization of political and economic relations between Libya and the international community. Critics in France focused on Sarkozy's statement that there had been no quid pro quo to obtain the release of the medics held by the Libyans.

It was no doubt an embarrassment to French officials, Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, Muammar el-Qaddafi, disclosed the contracts in an interview published Thursday in Le Monde. He said that the French and Libyan governments had been negotiating the deal "for a long time" but that during Sarkozy's visit, the Libyans had asked him to "accelerate things." "Now that the case of the nurses is settled, a golden opportunity has arisen," the newspaper quoted Saif Qaddafi as saying.

He suggested that further deals with French companies were also possible and said that representatives of the defense electronics groups Thales and Sagem were then in Libya. Spokesmen for the companies declined to comment.