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Books on Libya
REPUBLICAN REFERENCE
Area (sq.km)
1,759,540
Population
5,499,074
Capital
Tripoli
Currency
Libyan dinar
Leader
Col Mu'amar al-Qadhafi
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Update No: 024 - (31/10/05)
Is there a solution to the Benghazi Bulgarian
Nurses AIDS debacle?
As the European Union made very clear on a number of occasions in 2005,
after the appeal over death sentence faced by five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor in the Benghazi AIDS trial, the exoneration of the medics is
the last official obstacle to Libya's full participation in the international
community. Late in September, Libya insisted that Bulgaria pay the families of
HIV-positive children in Benghazi, Libya, a diya, or "blood money," to
gain the release of the medics. This was by no means the first such offer and
Bulgaria promptly rejected it. To pay the fine, say Bulgarian officials, amounts
to an admission of guilt. Bulgarian foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin told his
Libyan counterpart at the United Nations General Assembly meeting last week that
his country would not pay "blood money" to the families of the
HIV-positive children because the health workers had committed no crime and were
not responsible for their infections. The five Bulgarian and one Palestinian
medics sentenced to death for allegedly deliberately infecting the children with
the virus. AIDS experts testified at the trial of the workers that the HIV
infections occurred at the Benghazi hospital due to unsanitary conditions and
practices by hospital staff, and that they occurred before the foreign workers
arrived there, but a Libyan court in 2004 found the workers guilty and sentenced
them to death.
An appeal should be heard in Libyan courts in November.
Meanwhile, the medics have been in a Libyan jail since 1999 and several
countries - many with strong influence over Libya - have intervened in their
support. As the appeal deadline approaches, the fate of the Bulgarian medics has
come to the fore, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed to help the
five Bulgarian nurses jailed in Libya. He told his Bulgarian counterpart Ivaylo
Kalfin Lavrov said that he would raise the question for the fate of five women
during his official visit to Libya in November. Bulgaria's foreign minister also
talked to his Spanish colleague Miguel Angel Moratinos, who informed him that
Bulgaria's EU accession treaty might be approved by the Spanish parliament in
December. This is significant as Bulgaria's entry into the EU puts additional
pressure on Libya to release the medics, as the Bulgarian nurses case becomes an
EU matter. Libya rejected the request made by the US President George W. Bush to
release five Bulgarian women nurses sentenced to death over being convicted of
transferring AIDS/HIV to hundreds of Libyan children.
International pressure to release the Bulgarian nurses increased as United
States President Bush told journalists in a meeting in the White House with the
Bulgarian President Georgi Barvanov that he had asked Tripoli to release the
medics being held in Libya over the Benghazi hospital AIDS deaths. Bush stressed
that he asked Tripoli to release the medics, and not simply to absolve them from
the death sentence. For its part Tripoli, under strong international pressure -
perhaps the strongest concerted international pressure since the sanctions -
said through foreign minister Abdul Rahman Shalqam on al-Jazeera TV that
political decisions could not be taken in what is a judicial matter. He noted
that Muammar al-Qadhafi "has no judicial authority to interfere in a matter
pertinent only to the judiciary and families of the victims." Once again
Shalqam urged the Bulgarian authorities to reach an agreement with the families
of the victims in order to pay the 'diya' and close the case. There were also
widely publicized protests - in front of the UN building in downtown Tripoli (an
old Italian villa from the colonial period) by Libyans protesting against the US
stance favouring the release of the nurses. The protests have been widely noted
in news coverage of Libya, but they are not especially indicative of what
Libyans really believe. Indeed, the protests are often a government tool
signalling to the world a government position. In this case, the position is
that the government cannot simply exonerate the nurses.
A sign of hope?
Nevertheless, mere days after the protests there was an important signal
suggesting the nurses may soon be released after all. Indeed, as reported by the
UAE based newspaper Al-Bayan on October 28, the son of Muammar al-Qadhafi - Saif
al-Islam, who has been in the forefront of opening the country to the outside
world serving as a cross between Libyan goodwill ambassador and trade
commissioner - has admitted the guilt of the Libyan authorities for the AIDS
epidemics that broke out in the children's hospital in Benghazi. This is the
very first such admission, and while Saif al-Islam has no official role in the
Libyan government, he is widely known abroad and said to have suggested to his
father to make the famous renunciation of weapons of mass destruction
announcement of December 2003, which led to the opening of relations with the
United States. More interestingly, Saif al-Islam also admitted that the five
Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor, facing the death penalty after
being found guilty of deliberately infecting with HIV/AIDS some 426 children in
the Benghazi hospital, have been tortured. Saif al-Islam's statement precedes by
only three weeks, the set court hearing of the appeal of the death sentence of
the nurses. The five Bulgarian health workers and a Palestinian doctor were
found guilty of having caused the death of 40 children and of infecting almost
400 others with HIV at a Benghazi hospital by a Libyan court in 2004.
They were sentenced to death by a firing squad. While, an immediate release of
the medics is highly unlikely, as the Libyan government will probably have to
come to some agreement with the families (i.e. compensate them in what would
amount to be an admission of responsibility), the statements by Saif al-islam
suggest the death sentence and eventual release of the medics is the likely
outcome of the over six-year long saga.
Moreover, Tripoli has also stated that it would like to intensify relations with
the United States, and acting on the death sentence against the Bulgarian nurses
- especially after a direct request to release them from president Bush - would
certainly do very little in that regard. At the United Nations General Assembly,
Libyan Prime Minister Ghanem hinted he would like to be invited to Washington,
while hoping that Condoleeza Rice would soon visit Tripoli. It appears the Bush
administration politely declined Ghanem's invitation, while a State Department
spokesman said Rice had no trip to Libya on her schedule. Meanwhile, Libya and
the UK have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) over the exchange of
dissidents. The MOU was signed in Tripoli, and allows the British government it
"to safely deport foreign nationals". The agreement was criticized by
human rights groups such as Amnesty International. The group is concerned over
Libya's continued use of torture. Until the MOU, Britain was not able to deport,
under international conventions, people back to a country where they are likely
to face torture or inhuman, degrading treatment or where they might face the
death penalty.
Results of the Second Bidding Round for Oil Exploration Contracts: Asians
dominate
As expected majors ENI (E), Total (TOT), ExxonMobil (XOM) and BG (BG.LN) won
stakes in the 26 areas on offer in the second round, as did key players Norsk
Hydro (NHY) and Statoil (STO). Russian oil company Tatneft (TATN.RS) and Turkish
Petroleum also won bids. Libya, however, wants to increase its daily oil
production to achieve 3 million barrels per day by 2010, expecting oil companies
to invest several billions in exploration contracts. Of the 51 companies
participating in the Second bidding round, Japan snatched a large number of
these, as Japanese companies including " Mitsubishi " and "
Nippon Petroleum " got at least one contract. The Italian "Anne
Gas" company won four contracts exceeding the British group "British
gas" which won three contracts. French "Total" won one contract
at a rate of 27.8% of the total project, while Indian firms Oil India and Indian
Oil also signed expand the Norway's group" Stat Oil," the Indonesian
Group " Petromin." The Chinese company " CNBC International
" got the highest participation rate of 28.5%. The Libyan national oil
company NOC also said that American Exxon Mobil "won in collaboration with
the Japanese "Nippon" and the French "Petromin" a contract
in the centre of the country. British Petroleum in collaboration with "Petromin"
and "India Oil" won two contracts in Sirte, while the Italian
"Anne Gas" in collaboration with "British Petroleum" won two
contracts in Kofra fields and companies from France, Norway and Russia won
contracts in Marzouk fields west of the country. Libyan oil whose reserves are
estimated at 30 billion barrels is known for its cheap refinery costs because of
its light crude nature and low sulphur content.
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