1.15pm EU to boost Libya ties after Bulgarian medics freed
The EU has agreed to help develop Libyan hospitals as part of a "full partnership" with the country after it released six Bulgarian medical workers, Tripoli said today.
The Libyan foreign minister, Abdul-Rahman Shalqam, did not say how much aid the EU would provide, but told reporters that an agreement had been signed paving the way for a partnership between Libya and the EU.
Details of the deal emerged after the release of the medics, who were sentenced to death in December 2005 after being convicted of infecting 426 children with HIV while working at a hospital in the city of Benghazi. Fifty-six of the children have since died.
In jail since 1999, the medics always maintained their innocence and said they were tortured to make them confess.
The six, who had their death sentences overturned by Libya, arrived in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia this morning on a plane with the French first lady, Cécilia Sarkozy, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external relations commissioner.
The Bulgarian president, Georgi Parvanov, pardoned the medics upon arrival.
Back on Bulgarian soil, Kristiana Valcheva, one of the released nurses, said: "Now I still can't believe that I am standing on Bulgarian soil. We were told the news at four o'clock in the morning and we left the jail at quarter to six to board the plane. Now I will try to get my previous life back."
Bulgaria made an official request last week for Tripoli to repatriate the medics to serve their sentences in Bulgaria.
Relations between the EU and Libya have been improving steadily since Tripoli handed over two nationals indicted for the 1988 bombing of an American Airlines plane over Lockerbie, Scotland.
In 2004, Brussels ended 12 years of sanctions and eased an arms embargo after Libya gave up plans to develop nuclear weapons.
But relations took a turn for the worse after the conviction of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.
Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene were the real causes of the infections and that the six were scapegoats.
Last week Libya's high judiciary council commuted the death sentences on the six following the decision of the victims' families to drop demands for their execution after receiving compensation payments.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that neither the EU nor France paid money to Libya.
This latest visit to Libya was Ms Sarkozy's second on behalf of the prisoners and, like the first, it drew criticism from the opposition Socialists at home.
One opposition MP said the president, who took office on May 16, was profiting from the work of other nations and the EU, which have worked on behalf of the nurses for years.
As part of the new agreement, the EU promised to provide "life-long treatment" to the infected children, as well as aid to "improve the Benghazi hospital" where the children were infected, Mr Shalqam said.
For their part, EU officials said Libya could expect closer ties with the EU.
"We hope to go on further (on) normalising our relations with Libya. Our relations with Libya were to a large extent blocked by the non-settlement of this medics issue," the European commission president, José Manuel Barroso, said.
Libya, he added, could "expect progress in different fields", such as trade, energy and migration and other policy areas.
The EU is keen to enlist Libyan cooperation in stopping illegal immigrants entering Europe, and European countries are eager to invest in Libya's substantial oil reserves.
"Freedom for the Bulgarian Nurses" symbol.
Libya has freed six foreign medical personnel who were convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV and sentenced to . In jail since 1999, the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor arrived in , Bulgaria, today. The president of Bulgaria, , promptly pardoned them.

All six have maintained their innocence throughout. They have also claimed that they suffered  to extract . International HIV experts testified at the trials that the infections began before the six arrived at the Benghazi hospital. They said the infections were more likely the result of poor hygiene.

Last week, Libya lifted the death sentences following a 460 million financial settlement, which works out to US$1 million to each HIV victim's family. However, Libya insisted on further concessions on  with the European Union and aid.

A deal between the E.U. and Libya, mediated by Qatar, ended the diplomatic standoff. The foreign minister of Libya, , said the E.U. promised to provide "life-long treatment" to the infected children, as well as aid to "improve the Benghazi hospital" where the children were infected. Further, he claimed that deal will allow for "full cooperation and partnership between Libya and the European Union."

"We hope to go on further in normalising our relations with Libya. Our relations with Libya were to a large extent blocked by the non-settlement of this medics issue," said  ,  of the .

The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that neither the E.U. nor France paid money to Libya. He also said he would visit Libya on Wednesday to help 's reintegration. "I can quite simply confirm to you that neither Europe nor France have made the slightest financial contribution to Libya," said Sarkozy to reporters in Paris. "I have had the opportunity to thank the Qatari authorities very warmly for their mediation and their humanitarian intervention."

, the , said: "I share the joy of their families and friends and of the government and people of Bulgaria. For over eight years, we have never forgotten the suffering of the medical staff who have shown such dignity and fortitude during their long ordeal."

"Now I still can't believe that I am standing on Bulgarian soil. We were told the news at four o'clock in the morning and we left the jail at quarter to six to board the plane. Now I will try to get my previous life back," said Kristiyana Vulcheva, 48, upon her release at the airport.