Sarkozy cuts deals with Gaddafi

Francois Murphy and Kerstin Gehmlich
Reuters
Monday December 10, 2007

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi finalized business deals worth several billion euros on Monday after a meeting in which the French leader said he also pressed the issue of human rights.

Sarkozy's own top rights official sparked controversy by strongly criticizing Gaddafi ahead of his first visit to France in 34 years, saying her country was not a "doormat" on which he could wipe off the blood of his crimes, and that she was uncomfortable with him arriving on World Human Rights Day.

Sarkozy defended his own record on human rights, saying he was right to receive Gaddafi after the Libyan leader scrapped a weapons of mass destruction program, stopped backing terrorism and freed a group of foreign medics in July.

"I am also here to fight at the side of French businesses and factories so that we have the contracts and orders that the others were so happy to have in our stead, without in any way renouncing my convictions on human rights," Sarkozy said.

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After dinner, the two leaders oversaw the signing of contracts for Airbus planes, nuclear power and other deals which Paris said totaled more than 10 billion euros.

Libya's Afriqiyah Airlines signed a contract for six A350 aircraft, and Libyan Airlines signed deals for four A330, seven A320 and four A350 aircraft, Sarkozy's office said.

Full article here.

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