Word: libyans
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Once the quintessential "rogue state," Libya is now doing its best to shed an enduring reputation as a sponsor of terror and reintegrate into the international community. "Lockerbie belongs to the past - it's history," assures Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, second-born son and potential heir of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, referring to the deadly 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Scotland, one of several terror attacks for which Libyan agents have been tried and convicted. Though Libya denies responsibility for those attacks, Gaddafi acknowledges they, together with the country's provocative stance toward Western nations over...
...repair relations with the West came in 2003, when it announced the scrapping of its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs - an act the U.S., Britain, and other Western governments had demanded as prerequisite for renewing relations with Tripoli. Bilateral contacts have increased since, including partnerships between Western and Libyan intelligence services that Gaddafi and European officials credit for thwarting terror attacks on both sides of the Mediterranean. Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair traveled to Tripoli in May to hail Libya's "completely transformed" behavior, and predicted that the flourishing security and defense relationship between the two nations would...
...outdone by the Brits, French president Nicolas Sarkozy last month cut a deal for the release of six Bulgarian medics held by Libya for the past eight years on trumped-up charges of having willfully infected nearly 440 Libyan children with HIV. In the diplomatic razzle-dazzle that secured their freedom, Sarkozy also managed to leave French companies ideally placed in the race for opportunities to invest in Libya's oil-rich economy. Resolution of the Bulgarian stand-off also removed the last major hurdle for full normalization of diplomatic ties between Libya and the European Union...
Blessed are the peacemakers, but the First Couple of France may have had more political aims in engineering their dramatic accord with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The personal involvement of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cécilia in freeing six medics who faced execution in Libya on trumped-up murder charges earned cheers from many. But it also generated grousing from E.U. officials who suggest Sarkozy cut in on their low-key negotiations with Tripoli in the final stretch to break the tape himself and get the credit...
...case, it was just another sign of Sarkozy's results-focused approach to politics and his intent to raise France's profile in foreign affairs. He first pledged to concentrate on the prisoners' plight when he took office in May. Convicted of purposely infecting nearly 440 Libyan children with HIV in a Benghazi hospital, the medics--five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor--faced execution until Libya commuted the sentence to life in exchange for a $460 million compensation to victims' families. When further talks to get them out of Libya stalled, Sarkozy sent his wife to meet with Gaddafi...