Bulgaria urges Libya to release medics

BULGARIA:Bulgaria said yesterday it hoped Libya would soon take the "political" decision to release five of its nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting hundreds of children with HIV, as EU external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and France's first lady, Cecilia Sarkozy, held talks in Tripoli to free them.

Libya commuted a death sentence against the medics, who have spent eight years in jail, to life imprisonment last week after the families of 460 infected children accepted $1 million (€725,000) each in compensation.

"I expect the talks to be finalised today," said Bulgaria's foreign minister, Ivailo Kalfin. "We are now at the stage where the decision is purely political. If the Libyans show goodwill enough, the transfer can be done very quickly."

But diplomats say Col Muammar Gadafy's officials are now demanding money for a range of projects and normalisation of relations with the EU before the medics will be freed.

A diplomatic source said Tripoli wanted the EU to provide treatment for the infected children and to re-establish full contact with Libya, while others said it was also demanding EU funding for major transport infrastructure projects and the renovation of archaeological sites.

The plight of the medics - who international HIV experts say are almost certainly innocent - has hampered Col Gadafy's attempt to strengthen ties with the West after he abandoned an illicit weapons programme in 2003.

French leader Nicolas Sarkozy may also visit Libya this week.However, the Sarkozys have been accused of trying to steal credit for freeing the medics from Ms Ferrero-Waldner and former British leader Tony Blair, who played a key role in negotiations.