Joined: 05 Oct 2005
Posts: 315
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PARIS (Thomson Financial) - The French government today disclosed details of a defence agreement struck with Libya in July, confirming extracts previously leaked in the French press.
The deal, signed following the release of six Bulgarian medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus, covers the sale of military hardware and the training of Libyan special forces. The 11-point accord raises the possibility of selling Libya military vehicles of all types, ships, air defence and space systems as well as border and port surveillance equipment. It provides for the exchange of information and expertise, as well as the 'acquisition of various defence equipments and systems' and the 'protection of common investments in the area of defence'. The text also mentions the 'possibility of carrying out joint military manoeuvres' and the 'training of special military units, special forces and border patrol units'. The accord was leaked by French weekly Le Canard Enchaine at the end of August, at which time the government declined to comment. The agreement with Libya led to accusations that the French authorities had made military concessions in order to secure the release of the Bulgarian medics. A parliamentary inquiry is due to begin this week into the circumstances of the medics' release, which French president Nicolas Sarkozy helped to broker. Following the military accord in July, EADS unit MBDA signed a contract worth 168 mln eur to supply Libya with Milan anti-tank missiles. |
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