Libya, France sign 168m-euro arms deal
Saturday, 4 August 2007
TRIPOLI, Aug 3 (AFP): Libya signed a contract with France Thursday to buy Milan anti-tank missiles worth 168 million euros (230 million dollars), in the first such deal a European embargo was lifted, a Libyan official said.
The contract was signed with European missile manufacturer MBDA, the world's number one maker of guided weapons systems, the official told AFP.
MBDA is jointly owned by BAE Systems, EADS and Finmeccanica.
It was the first arms agreement with a European country since the lifting in 2004 of a European embargo on weapons sales to Libya, the source added.
Libya also signed a contract with EADS for a Tetra radio communications system in a separate deal worth 128 million euros (175 million dollars), another official said under cover of anonymity.
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Saif ul-Islam, told Le Monde newspaper in comments published Wednesday that Tripoli's release of six foreign medics last week had paved the way for the signing of major arms deals with France.
Saif al-Islam said at the time that Libya was looking to purchase Milan missiles as part of a wide-ranging defence deal.
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who travelled to Tripoli a day after the medics' release, denied any quid pro quo for the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted in an AIDS case.
During his visit, France and Libya signed a memorandum pledging to cooperate on nuclear energy projects including for water desalination, as well as a military agreement whose contents were not made public.
The French presidency said no arms contracts were signed.
Apart from contracts with France, a deal with Britain that could see a Libyan convicted for the Lockerbie plane bombing extradited home was also key to the release of the medics, according to Seif al-Islam.
Former Libyan secret agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, who was jailed for the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland won the right to a new appeal in June after a court ruled he may have been wrongly convicted.
The contract was signed with European missile manufacturer MBDA, the world's number one maker of guided weapons systems, the official told AFP.
MBDA is jointly owned by BAE Systems, EADS and Finmeccanica.
It was the first arms agreement with a European country since the lifting in 2004 of a European embargo on weapons sales to Libya, the source added.
Libya also signed a contract with EADS for a Tetra radio communications system in a separate deal worth 128 million euros (175 million dollars), another official said under cover of anonymity.
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Saif ul-Islam, told Le Monde newspaper in comments published Wednesday that Tripoli's release of six foreign medics last week had paved the way for the signing of major arms deals with France.
Saif al-Islam said at the time that Libya was looking to purchase Milan missiles as part of a wide-ranging defence deal.
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who travelled to Tripoli a day after the medics' release, denied any quid pro quo for the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted in an AIDS case.
During his visit, France and Libya signed a memorandum pledging to cooperate on nuclear energy projects including for water desalination, as well as a military agreement whose contents were not made public.
The French presidency said no arms contracts were signed.
Apart from contracts with France, a deal with Britain that could see a Libyan convicted for the Lockerbie plane bombing extradited home was also key to the release of the medics, according to Seif al-Islam.
Former Libyan secret agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, who was jailed for the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland won the right to a new appeal in June after a court ruled he may have been wrongly convicted.