Libya signs arms deal with French firms

Libya signs arms deal with French firms
Agencies / GULF NEWS Published: August 03, 2007, 09:49

Tripoli: Libya has signed contracts with French firms for military equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a Libyan source said.

The source said the collective arms deal signed on Thursday was Libya's first with a Western country since the 2004 lifting of an international weapons embargo.

The contracts were worth a total of 296 million euros ($402 million), which included a deal for Milan anti-tank missiles and communications systems.

On Wednesday, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi told a French newspaper that France had agreed to sell anti-tank missiles to Libya as part of a wider military agreement.

Gaddafi's son, Saif Al Islam, however, denied that the arms agreement had been part of a deal to release Bulgarian medics last month.
The six foreign medics were held in jail for eight years for allegedly infecting Libyan children with HIV.