Judicious postponement

Fearing it might jeopardise its rapprochement with the European Union, Libya postponed its final ruling in a controversial HIV case that involves Bulgarian nurses. Rasha Saad reports

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A sigh of relief was given by Bulgarian and EU officials as Tripoli's supreme court decided last week to delay a ruling on an appeal by five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in 2004 for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus deliberately. "I welcome this decision. It indicates that the Libyan supreme court accepts that the original trial needs additional consideration and that the death sentences cannot be confirmed," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero- Waldner said. The court delayed its ruling until mid-November.

Libyan legal sources insist that their decision of postponement is not political, but a strictly judicial decision in order to give them more time to thoroughly examine the 10,000-paper case. However, the delay of the ruling, coming shortly after an intensive campaign from Bulgaria and the EU to secure the release of the medics, cast a shadow on the credibility of such explanations, which are seen as the outcome of successful EU and Bulgarian diplomacy.

The decision came days after Bulgaria's President Georgio Parvanov visited Libya and met children with HIV in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Ferrero-Waldner also met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and then met the medics in prison. It was the first time a top level EU representative has seen the jailed workers.

The EU, which opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, has always argued that it does not accept the evidence under which the medics were convicted, suggesting that the case could jeopardise Libyan endeavours to improve relations with the EU. Shortly before last week's postponement, Bulgaria's foreign minister warned Libya that "the Bulgarian medics trial remains a key precondition for Libya's ambitions to improve relations with the EU and to join the EU's Barcelona trade partnership with Mediterranean rim nations."

The medics, who have been in jail since 1999, claimed that they were tortured into confessing and that Libya has made them scapegoats rather than admit that the death of at least 40 children, and the infection of 426, was caused by poor hygiene standards.

AIDS experts have testified in court that the outbreak began before the medics began working at the clinic. Instead, lawyers of the defendants argue, the court based its verdict on a report by Libyan experts that placed the blame on the foreign health workers.

The postponement decision has been seen as Libya's acknowledgment that its improved image after decades of isolation and its endeavours to join the Euro-Mediterranean partnership are at risk. Tripoli is aware that Bulgaria, which is set to join the EU in 2007, could become a future obstacle for oil-producing Libya's relations with the bloc.

Libya has said before that the executions could be avoided if the children's families are financially compensated. Families of the victims claim they should be compensated the same way as families of the Lockerbie victims, demanding that Bulgaria pay $10 million for each child. Bulgaria has refused, saying that this would amount to admitting guilt.

Libya has subsequently pressured Bulgaria and threatened to boycott Bulgarian companies and shut the doors to all investment and trade opportunities with Bulgarian companies in the fields of farm and irrigation projects, in retaliation for what it sees as its "disregard to demands to take responsibility for the action of its citizens in the HIV case". Both sides however seem to have reached a compromise. "Bulgaria and the whole of Europe will help in the treatment of the [infected Libyan] children," Parvanov said during his visit to Benghazi hospital. He has reportedly promised family members that his country and the EU would help Libya with the treatment of the children until a modern hospital is built.

Libya, the only country around the Mediterranean Sea with no formal relations with the European Union, has been aggressively reintegrating itself into the international community. As a result of an agreement reached between the US, UK and Libya on the Lockerbie bombing, unilateral US sanctions against Libya were lifted in 2004, preceded by the lifting of UN sanctions against the nation in 2003. Also in 2003, in a surprise move, Libya announced it is scrapping its WMD programme after nine months of secret negotiations between Libyan, British and US experts. It has also signed a deal to compensate families of the 170 people, mostly French, killed when a UTA plane was destroyed over Chad.

EU officials have always stated that increased attention is being given to Libya following the lifting of the UN sanctions. At present, Libya is a passive observer in the Barcelona Process, and is present as such at the Foreign Affairs Ministerial meetings, at high level political dialogue meetings, and at the Euro-Med committee. Libya has also attended, as observer, two high-level sectoral Euro-Med meetings on energy in 2003.

Libya, for its part, is trying to meet the terms of the Barcelona Declaration. The Barcelona Declaration stipulates that signatories must be committed to human rights, democracy, free trade and support of the Middle East peace process. In June 2003, an important government reshuffle took place in Libya giving the green light to a more open economy.

Moreover, Libya, which has demanded before that Israel and the Palestinian Authority's presence in the Barcelona group be suspended, made a significant shift in its stance last year when Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, believed to be a main player in Libya's home and foreign policies, was quoted as saying that Israel was no longer considered a security threat and that Libya and Israel were not in conflict.

While Libya is still waiting for the political rewards for such actions, trade relations seem to be the most significant area of cooperation between both sides, with several EU member states enjoying extensive trade relations with Libya. Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and France are Libya's four leading suppliers of manufactured goods, energy, food products and raw materials, amounting to roughly 50 per cent of its total imports in 2001.

Moreover, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Greece are Libya's top five export markets, absorbing about 78 per cent of its manufactured goods, energy and food products and raw materials in 2001. These relations pushed the EU in 2004 to end its unilateral sanctions against Libya which date back to 1986. Italy, Libya's number one trade partner, has spearheaded diplomatic moves to bring Libya, Italy's biggest oil supplier, closer to the EU. Italy has argued for the lifting of the 18-year-old arms ban against Libya, so that it could supply it with hi-tech equipment intended to curb illegal migration.