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'No money paid for medics'
24/07/2007 14:33 - (SA)
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| Bulgarian nurse Valya Cherveniashka hugs a relative at Sofia airport after her release from a Libyan prison. (Ditmar Dilkoff, AFP) |
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Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday that neither France nor the European Union had paid "the slightest financial compensation" for the release of six Bulgarian medics jailed in Libya.
Sarkozy, whose wife Cecilia helped negotiated the medics' release alongside EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, also confirmed at a press conference in Paris that he would head to Tripoli on Wednesday.
Speaking hours after the six nurses and doctor touched down in Sofia on board a French presidential plane, Sarkozy said it would be a "political trip to help Libya reintegrate the concert of nations".
The six medics had been jailed for life in Libya for infecting children with the Aids virus, but were freed after the conditions Tripoli had set down for extradition had been met.
There was no immediate official confirmation of the details of the deal brokered with the Libyan authorities.
In Tripoli, a Libyan government official said Sarkozy was expected to sign bilateral agreements on security, energy, education, immigration, health and scientific research during his visit to the north African country.
Controversy over first lady
Sarkozy also brushed off the controversy whipped up by his wife's involvement - highly unusual for a French first lady and seen by his critics as evidence of his overly personal approach to power.
"We solved a problem. Period. There's no point theorising about a new organisation of French diplomacy or the status of the head of state's wife. We had to get them out, we got them out. That is what counts."
"Cecilia did a quite remarkable job," Sarkozy said. "This involved women, it was a humanitarian issue. I thought Cecilia could make a useful contribution."
"She did so with great bravery, a lot of sincerity, humanity and skill, by understanding right away that we would have to take everyone's pain into consideration - that of the nurses of course, but also that of the 50 or so families who lost a child."
The 49-year-old former PR executive made the trip to Tripoli with Ferrero-Waldner and Claude Gueant, secretary-general of the French presidency.
Previous French first ladies have limited themselves to strictly humanitarian endeavours and played no part in diplomacy.
- AFP
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