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Tunisia ranked first in North Africa in a report on good governance

Tunisia continues to receive favourable ratings in international reports. Following the latest World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report where Tunisia was ranked first in Africa and in the Maghreb, Tunisia is ranked first in North Africa, in the annual report on good governance recently published by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The report credits Tunisia with an overall score of 71.5 points out of 100.

Tunisia is credited with excellent scores on the strength of its performance in terms of “human development,” “transparency and rule of law” and the “climate of security”, with scores of 89, 70.5 and 100 points respectively. Tunisia comes ahead of Algeria (7th), Morocco (12th), Egypt (18th) and Libya (21st).

The third annual report published by the Kennedy School of Governance which is part of Harvard’s school of political sciences, focuses this year on “Strengthening Governance in Africa”. The rankings were established on the basis of 57 indexes of good governance centred on such determinants as security, transparency, rule of law, participation and human rights, economic stability and human development.

The report stresses the correlation between good governance, on the one hand, and development and security of each country, on the other.

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A Wet Kiss for Kaddafi

The move to normalize relations between the U.S. and Libya accelerates next month when Muammar Kaddafi makes his first-ever trip to America to address the U.N. The arrival of Kaddafi is already creating problems for New York security officials: he travels with a massive, heated Bedouin tent. Libyan officials recently asked permission for Kaddafi to pitch it in Central Park. "The location for the tent is still an open question," says a senior State Department official who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. (One alternative: coax Kaddafi, and his retinue of female bodyguards, to pitch the tent on Libyan-owned property in New Jersey.)

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Newsweek article

Lybia - Growth and inflation

The inflation rate in Libya dropped to 1% in June from 12.4 percent in June 2008, the Central Bank of Libya announced last week.

The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which contributes about 95% of export earnings, about one-quarter of GDP, and 60% of public sector wages. The expected weakness in world hydrocarbon prices throughout 2009 could reduce Libyan government tax income and constrain Libyan economic growth in 2009.

Libya imports around 90 percent of its food and other supplies notably from Europe, where consumer prices have fallen sharply this year amid the global credit crunch.

Real GDP was expected to rise by more than 7 per cent after reaching 6.8 per cent in 2007. However, Libya still faces challenges linked to the duality of its economy. While the hydrocarbon sector allows the country to accumulate large amounts of capital, there are inadequate linkages between the petroleum and non-petroleum sectors.

Substantial revenues from the energy sector coupled with a small population give Libya one of the highest per capita GDPs in Africa, but little of this income flows down to the lower orders of society.

Worthy of note is Libya’s recently launched US$84 billion infrastructure programme. With the labour force increasing at a yearly rate of 3.5 to 4 percent, the generation of employment was also a concern.

Libya pulls assets from Swiss banks

Libya has withdrawn most of its assets from Swiss bank accounts in a continuing diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
The north African country last year pulled out SFr5.6 billion ($5.2 billion) of its SFr5.75 billion deposited in Swiss banks, according to statistics by the Swiss National Bank. The Swiss foreign ministry said it had no detailed figures on Libyan assets in Switzerland, but a withdrawal had little economic impact. In 2007 Libyan assets made up 0.3 per cent of all foreign assets in Swiss banks.

Relations between the two countries have been strained since one of the sons of the Libyan leader, Moammar Gaddafi, was arrested in Geneva last July, charged with assaulting two domestic employees. Charges against Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife were later dropped, but Libya has been restricting Swiss business activities in the country.

Two Swiss businessmen have also been detained in Libya. They are not allowed to leave the country. In addition, a court case is pending in Geneva. Libya is blocking the arrival of a new chargé d'affaire in Tripoli to replace the Swiss ambassador who retired earlier this year. Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz is seeking a meeting with the Libyan leader in an effort to solve the standoff.

swissinfo.ch

Libya's unemployment rate 20.74%

OPEC member Libya's unemployment rate is 20.74 percent, a leading local daily reported on Sunday, quoting the government's latest census figures.

The report, highlighting social differences in Libya, comes before a two-day meeting of the country's top legislative and executive body, the General People Congress, which begins late on Sunday. The Congress is widely expected to endorse a Gaddafi plan to distribute more than $30 billion oil money this year directly to the 5 million Libyans in a bid to lift a million out of poverty.

Naval Bases Planned for Libya, Syria

Russia has decided to establish naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen within a few years, a military official said Friday, in a sign of Moscow's growing foreign policy ambitions.

"It is difficult to say how much time it will take to create the bases for our fleet in these countries, but within a few years this will be done without question," the unidentified military official told Itar-Tass.

"The political decision on this question has been taken," the official said. A Navy spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff, said it was too early to name any foreign ports that could host Russian bases.

"There are negotiations conducted with foreign governments. Such publications [on bases] may have a negative effect on the way of these talks," Nogovitsyn said, Itar-Tass reported.

Analysts have said the Syrian port of Tartus could be revived as a Russian naval base. During the Cold War, the Soviet Navy had a permanent presence in the Mediterranean, using Tartus as a supply point.

National media have reported that opening a naval base in the Libyan port of Benghazi was among the main issues discussed during Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's visit to Moscow in October last year.Nogovitsyn said it was unclear when Russian naval bases abroad could open.

Libya Buying into ENI?

Libyan officials have said recently that they are interested in acquiring up to 10% of ENI, the Italian oil major. Such a deal might make sense for a number of reasons. ENI shares have been beaten down along with those of other energy companies. Buying into ENI would be a bargain. Moreover, ENI is Libya’s most important partner in the oil and gas industry with average daily oil and gas production in excess of 550 thousand barrels per day of oil equivalent. ENI remained in Italy throughout the long sanctions period.

ENI recently signed a new deal with Libya extending its concessions through 2047. ENI will invest as much as $28 billion in Libya. Shukri Ghanem, the CEO of Libya’s National Oil Co. and his counterpart at ENI, Paulo Scaroni, seem to get on famously. The two recently held what was billed as a “debate” in London, but it seemed more of a lovefest. “We understand each other; our characters are similar, Ghanem said.” Scaroni has gone out of his way to accommodate the needs of the countries ENI works. ENI is willing to go to great lengths to accommodate its partners. Such efforts include building power plants, agricultural projects, and schools and clinics.

Ghanem also talked about the need for more cooperation between the international oil companies such as ENI and the national oil companies. He said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a merger between two such companies taking place. Maybe that is where this relationship is heading.
Businessweek

Russia, Libya boost energy ties

Signalling a revival of Soviet-era strategic ties between Russia and Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi said in Moscow on November 1 his country will enhance cooperation in the oil and gas sector with Russia, the word’s leading energy exporter. “We consider cooperation with Russia in the oil and gas sector as very timely at this moment ... Moreover, we have common approaches to the oil and gas policy,” Gaddafi said during talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Gaddafi visited Moscow just two months after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was his guest in Libya. During the Moscow visit, Gaddafi pitched a Bedouin tent in a Kremlin garden and invited Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for tea. Qadhafi’s Moscow visit came six months after then President Putin opened a new chapter in relations between Russia and Libya by becoming the first Kremlin leader to visit Tripoli. Russia’s energy giants, such as Gazprom, Tatneft, Tatneftegeofizika, LUKoil and Stroitransgaz are operating in Libya’s oil and gas sector. Their projects range from geological surveys, offshore exploration and development to oil refining and pipeline construction. In July, Gazprom offered to buy all of Libya’s natural gas production.

“We think alike about gas and oil policies,” Interfax quoted Gaddafi as saying. Gazprom head Alexei Miller and Libya’s National Oil Corporation chief Shukri Mohamed Ganem reached agreement to hold trilateral talks with Italy’s ENI later this month on joint projects, including a new major gas pipeline running under the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe. For now, Libya and Algeria compete with Russia to supply gas to southern Europe. Libya already supplies gas to Italy directly or through Tunisia. Meanwhile, Algeria’s Energy Ministry on November 3 confirmed that work on the undersea Medgaz pipeline between Spain and Algeria was already edging closer to completion.

The Russian authorities are also negotiating to provide Libya with a civilian nuclear research reactor and signed a framework agreement on nuclear cooperation. The civil nuclear pact signed by the nuclear energy chiefs of Russia and Libya provides for the construction of reactors in Libya and cooperation in medicine and nuclear waste disposal, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Chalgham, who accompanied Qadhafi to Moscow, was quoted by the press as saying.

http://www.neurope.eu/articles/90512.php

Italy to Pay $5 Billion to Libya in Landmark Accord

Italy agreed to pay Libya $5 billion as compensation for its 30-year occupation of the country during the 20th century. The money will be invested by Italy over a 25-year period. For VOA, Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome.

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday signed a "friendship pact" with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Under the pact, Italy agreed to compensate Libya for abuses it committed during its colonial rule of the North African country.

Italy will invest $5 billion in Libya in a deal that effectively turns the page on colonial-era disputes that have long tarnished their relations. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made the announcement during a visit to the Mediterranean city of Benghazi where he met Libyan leader Moammar Gadhdafi. He said the accord would provide for $200 million a year over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects in Libya.

The compensation package involves construction projects, student grants, and pensions for Libyan soldiers who served with the Italians during World War II. It also includes a coastal highway stretching across the country from Tunisia to Egypt.

Mr. Berlusconi's office said in a statement that the premier would also hand over to Gadhafi the goddess Venus of Cyrene, an ancient Roman statue taken in 1913 by Italian troops from the ruins of the Greek and Roman settlement of Cyrene, on the Libyan coast.

Prime Minister Berlusconi said this agreement should put an end to 40 years of discord and is a concrete and moral acknowledgment of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era. But many Libyans who lived under Italy's domination find it difficult to forget. A man says the behavior of Italians was cruel. They treated the Libyans like dogs. Italy is Libya's biggest trade partner with 25 percent of Italian oil imports coming from the North African country. It now also hopes the agreement will open the path to further cooperation.

Italy would like to see Libya crack down further on illegal migrants turning up on Italian shores and will fund $500 million worth of electronic monitoring devices on the Libyan coastline. Relations between the two countries have warmed over the last few years but it has taken years of negotiations for the two sides to hammer out a deal on compensation for Italy's rule over Libya from 1911 to 1943.Following Saturday's agreement, Libya named August 30, Libyan-Italian Friendship Day.

Gadhafi's son says he won't succeed his father

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son announced he will no longer be involved in politics, calling for political reforms and denying he would succeed his father, as many have expected. Seif al-Islam Gadhafi gave no explanation for his decision, and in Libya's extremely opaque politics it could not immediately be determined if it will seriously be carried out. He acknowledged the move could raise speculation of a rift between him and his father, but denied that was the case. There have been no public signs of any dispute between the two.

"I don't have any problem" with the elder Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam said in a speech Wednesday to thousands of young Libyans in the southern city of Sabha. "I just met with him before I came here." "I have decided not to intervene in state affairs," he said in the speech, broadcast on state TV. "In the past, I used to intervene (in politics) due to the absence of institutions."

Seif al-Islam holds no official post but has grown in prominence in recent years, directing economic reforms and playing a major role in negotiations that restored Libya's ties with the West after decades of isolation. That fuelled speculation he was being groomed to take power after his 66-year-old father steps down or dies, although Seif al-Islam has denied it in the past.

The elder Gadhafi has ruled Libya unquestioned since coming to power in a 1969 coup. He created a so-called "Jamahiriya" - an Arabic term he invented meaning approximately "rule of the masses" - that claims to hand direct rule to the people, but has led to an unusual system where lines of government power are unclear, there is no constitution or opposition, and Gadhafi's word is law.

In his speech, Seif al-Islam, dressed in a dark business suit, called for political reforms to better regulate Libya's system by rule of law, guaranteeing democracy, an independent press and human rights, "without harming the Jamahiriya system."

Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean

Projects to clean up the Mediterranean Sea, establish new sea routes and highways, and harness solar energy could be at the heart of new European efforts to engage with southern neighbors, according to the first set of concrete proposals published Tuesday.

Less than two months before the debut of a new Union for the Mediterranean, pioneered by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the European Commission sought to put its stamp on the plan with a series of recommendations.

While its call for big spending projects in the region will be welcomed in Paris, the document issued Tuesday also proposes a further dilution of Sarkozy's original aim of giving the European Union's southern states a bigger role in the venture than northern EU counterparts. ...

What is not disputed is the thinking behind the plan: that previous initiatives have largely failed. Since 1995 the EU has engaged with southern neighbors through the so-called Barcelona Process but with few tangible results.

The new document concedes that the Barcelona Process suffered from "weak visibility and the perception by citizens that little is done to tackle their daily problems and real needs." European diplomats hope the new organization, known officially as the "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean," will give southern Mediterranean countries a greater stake because they will be on a level of parity with the EU.

Critics point out that a central problem will remain: the diverse southern Mediterranean membership, which includes Syria and Israel.

The commission said the new union should hold summit meetings every two years, but avoided endorsing any location for its headquarters. Tunis, however, has emerged as a prime candidate. The commission called for two parallel sets of co-presidencies - to be held by France for an initial six months on the EU side. Thereafter this would be held by the new president of the European Council or high representative for foreign affairs - posts established under the new Treaty of Lisbon.

The document released Tuesday called for improved maritime and road infrastructure, including new sea routes and upgraded port facilities, and a new road to link the Arab states of North Africa - Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

The new body should reinvigorate a plan approved in 2006 to clean the Mediterranean Sea of pollution, a 2007 program to develop solar power, and a proposal for a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010, the document said.

IHT

Gaddafi accuses Europeans of killing migrants

(Reuters)

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has accused European states of killing hundreds of African migrants by deliberately sinking their boats to stop them reaching Europe.

"This tragedy is unfolding. A war on the Mediterranean sea is being waged against Africans," Gaddafi told leaders of African trade unions he met in Tripoli late on Thursday.

"Europe seeks to defend itself and is doing anything it can to prevent migrants from reaching Europe. So they hit the boat and then announce all the people on board died," he said.

"They sometimes come to pretend to rescue a boat but they overturn it in order that the migrant workers on board die."

Russia swaps Libya debt for deals

Russia has agreed to cancel $4.5bn (£2.3bn) of Libyan debt in exchange for major contracts for Russian firms. The announcement came during a visit to Tripoli on Thursday by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Libya was a big importer of Soviet weaponry during the Cold War, when it accumulated large debts.

The two countries signed deals on energy co-operation, military assistance and construction of a 500km (310-mile) railway line in Libya.

Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom plans large-scale exploration and production projects with Libya's national energy company. They will include liquefied natural gas installations and gas-fired electricity plants in Libya.
Russia will provide the technology for Libya to build a major rail link between Sirte and Benghazi. Construction is expected to take four years.

Gazprom is also holding preliminary talks with Nigeria about a multibillion-dollar project to deliver Nigerian gas to Europe via a pipeline across the Sahara. The project is costed at $10bn for the pipeline and $3bn for other installations, delivering up to 30bn cubic metres a year of gas to Europe. The 4,128km (2,580-mile) pipeline from Nigeria will cross Niger and Algeria. Mr Putin said Libya "is orientated towards the most active co-operation with Russia in all areas".

President Putin is now in Sardinia for talks with Italian Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi. The Italian firm Eni is also involved in big energy projects in Libya and already has a close partnership with Gazprom.

EU calls for quick start to talks with Libya

The European Union called on Monday for a quick start to talks with Libya, once shunned by the West as a pariah state, on a cooperation agreement covering a wide area from trade to migration.

EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that the EU executive planned to send an exploratory mission to the energy-rich North African state "very soon".

"The EU and Libya should as soon as possible open discussions on an EU-Libya framework agreement which will include areas of mutual interest such as human rights, migration, among others," the ministers said in a statement.

EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini told Reuters on Wednesday cooperation on energy, promoting tourism and archaeological sites would be part of the talks. He said the EU hoped Libya would participate in EU sea patrols aimed at stopping migrants from reaching the bloc and said it could help Libyans patrol their southern borders by providing equipment like providing cars and binoculars.

Conservation of ancient sites

The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi unveiled an ambitious plan on Monday to protect ancient Greek ruins, conserve the country's pristine Mediterranean coastline and draw eco-tourists to this former pariah state.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi's plan is part of an attempt to dramatically change the image of Libya — to an ecologically friendly tourist destination — at a time when the country is nearing its long-sought political goal: getting into the West's good graces.

The younger Gadhafi announced the project at a lavish ceremony inside a 2,200-year-old Greek gymnasium in the ruins of the ancient city of Cyrene, one of the country's largely untouched and unvisited antiquity sites that Libya hopes will pull in foreigners.

"Our intention is to build a complete and sustainable social, cultural, economic and environmental system in which the needs of the present allow for the needs of future generations," said Gadhafi, standing on the gymnasium's open plaza surrounded by tall, beige-colored columns.

"Its time now to join developed countries and make a statement that we are also concerned about the environment and culture," Gadhafi, who is known in Libya as "The Engineer," told reporters after the ceremony.

Touted as a reformer, 36-year-old Gadhafi has increasingly been sharing his father's spotlight and reaching out the West to soften Libya's image and return it to the international mainstream. He has no official government post, but many see him as the man most likely to take power in the North African country when his 65-year-old father steps down or dies. After spending decades as the United States' sworn enemy, Libya is embarking on a political and economic change of heart.

IHT

Lybian infrastructural projects

Libya inaugurates gigantic water reservoir in Abou Zayyan

The chairman of the Kadhafi Foundation for Development, Seif-Ul Islam Moammar Kadhafi, inaugurated on Saturday in Abou Zayyan (90km south-west of Tripoli), the Abou Zayyan reservoir of the water resources of the grand artificial river, aimed at meeting fresh water needs for domestic and agricultural purposes in the region.

The water resources in the Abou Zayyan reservoir come from a network of huge aqueducts with a diameter of 2.8, the Sidi Sayeh reservoir (50km south of Tripoli), the water of the grand artificial river via the localities of Rabta (80km south east of Tripoli) and Yaaguib where there are two reservoirs with a capacity of 400,000m3 each.

The implementation of the Abou Zayyan reservoir project started in 2004. The An-Nahr company which is under the control of the office in charge of the management of the water resources of the grand artificial river, has built the aqueducts of this project in its factories located in Brega and Serir.

This important Libyan hydraulic project called the "grand artificial river" was implemented in five stages, the first being operational since September 1994, ten years after the inauguration of the works assigned to a South-Korean firm.

At its final stage, the project will help to supply all the Libyan regions with drinking water, particularly northern towns such as Benghazi, Jdabia and Syrte, and to irrigate fertile plains in order to ensure food self-sufficiency and economic independence eventually for the Libyan people.

The cost of this project is about US$25 billions. Its implementation is in line with the studies on environmental problems linked to the "excessive" exploitation of underground water, as well as sea to water infiltration and pollution.

Work begins on 1 bln eur Libya airport

Libya said work has begun on a new 1 billion euro airport for the capital Tripoli which will be able to welcome 20 mln travellers per year.

The work is being carried out by a consortium of six companies including Vinci of France, Oderbrecht of Brazil and TAV of Turkey, under the supervision of a French research consultancy, state news agency JANA cited project director Abdel Majid Sadah as saying.

The 1,165 hectare site will be able to handle up to 100 planes, with a car park capacity of 4,400 spaces, Sadah said.

Libya’s Qadhafi launches sat-channel

The son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi launched a satellite channel from Tripoli on August 20.

Sayf-al-Islam Qadhafi has launched Al-Libiyah, the first stage of a new media group he says he will build from Tripoli. The channel’s slogan “Together for the sake of tomorrow’s Libya”, explains that the aim behind the new media is to steer away from the usual "classical" approaches in the official media organs and added that the new channel would be committed to the national line but not be subjected to very close censorship.

Local reports say $20m has been invested in the new project. BBC Monitoring, speaking about the project, said: “The new channel is one of the media tools of the 9/1 Company that is owned by Al-Qadhafi Development Foundation that has been managed by Al-Qadhafi's son for years as a nongovernmental organization that is seen as the front for his political and media activities”.

Libya economy committee backs free market reforms

Reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya said on Saturday it was looking at relaxing restrictions on foreign and domestic trade, part of investor-friendly reforms which long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi has said are inevitable in the modern world.

The government's economy committee proposed that restrictions on imports be freed up and eventually cancelled, a source on the committee said. Export barriers would also be removed, except for cement, steel and subsidised commodities. The influential committee, part of the economy ministry, is made up of experts who study policy and issue recommendations to the government.

"The committee expressed the intention to remove the quantitative restrictions on imports to reach the stage of cancelling them in order to achieve price stability ... as well as create job opportunities," the source said.

The body also proposed that a system of obligatory domestic price restrictions be phased out, although price limitations would remain on commodities, medicines, electricity and oil derivatives.

Draft laws are expected to be drawn up covering competition, monopolies and the protection of consumers, the source said. The committee also decided on a mechanism to monitor wholesale commodity prices.

Libya has a tightly-controlled, command economy that is hamstrung by red tape, a bloated civil service and complex tax, customs and financial rules that have deterred private sector investment, leaving it reliant on oil and gas exports.

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.

Libya Calls On Arab League to Cut Ties With Bulgaria

Libya has called on the Arab League to review its ties with Bulgaria after it pardoned six medical workers that Libya had jailed for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with HIV.

The workers, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, had twice been sentenced to death in Libya for infecting some 426 children with the AIDS virus in the late 1990s. The case has been widely denounced abroad amid allegations the six were tortured into making false confessions.

Libya commuted their sentences to life in prison and allowed them to fly to Bulgaria last Tuesday, under a deal sponsored by France allowing the six medical worker to serve their sentences at home.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham said the medical workers should have been detained upon arrival in Bulgaria last week and not freed in a "celebratory and illegal manner."

The five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor were freed as soon as they arrived in Bulgaria, following the deal struck between the European Union and Tripoli that ended their eight-year imprisonment. Libya's Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi said Libya had kept their part of their agreement, but Bulgaria did not.

Voice of America