French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday that he would travel to Tripoli for talks with his Libyan counterpart Moamer Gaddafi following the return to Bulgaria of six medics who had spent eight years in a Libyan prison, REPORTED DPA. The return to Bulgaria of the medics, who had their death sentences commuted to life for infecting some 400 Libyan children with HIV/AIDS, came as the result of 11th-hour negotiations by Sarkozy's wife Cecilia and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. President Sarkozy said that he wanted to help Libya "to come back into the circle of nations" during the meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was expected to accompany the president. The release of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor, who has since taken up Bulgarian citizenship, followed a deal giving the families of the infected children 1 million dollars each in compensation. Sarkozy said that he had worked "hand in hand" with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in the case and that France had not paid a single cent to Libya. The president praised the "very good job" done by Ferrero-Waldner and thanked Qatar for its "humanitarian action" in the case.
