Sarkozy won't attend Kadhafi's party
Friday, 28 August 2009
PARIS, Aug 27 (AFP): President Nicolas Sarkozy's office Thursday denied a claim that the French leader would go to Libya next week for celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Moamer Kadhafi's regime.
Earlier, one of the Libyan organisers of the events had told reporters that Sarkozy, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would attend.
But officials at the Elysee Palace firmly denied that the French leader would be there. One said that he would be represented at the festivities by an official "of a rank which has yet to be decided."
Sarkozy welcomed Kadhafi to Paris in 2007, five months after France helped negotiate the release of a group of Bulgarian nurses who were being held in a Libyan jail, and France has been cautiously developing ties.
Kadhafi's anniversary comes as his regime is once again at the centre of international outrage after it accorded a hero's welcome in Tripoli last week to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber.
Earlier, one of the Libyan organisers of the events had told reporters that Sarkozy, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would attend.
But officials at the Elysee Palace firmly denied that the French leader would be there. One said that he would be represented at the festivities by an official "of a rank which has yet to be decided."
Sarkozy welcomed Kadhafi to Paris in 2007, five months after France helped negotiate the release of a group of Bulgarian nurses who were being held in a Libyan jail, and France has been cautiously developing ties.
Kadhafi's anniversary comes as his regime is once again at the centre of international outrage after it accorded a hero's welcome in Tripoli last week to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber.