European nations deny Libya visit for anniversary

EUROPEAN governments have denied claims by Libyan organisers that they are to send top leaders to celebrations in Tripoli for the 40th anniversary of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

France denied claims that President Nicolas Sarkozy would attend, and Russia said President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would also stay away.

An official in Sarkozy’s office said the president would be represented by an official “of a rank which has to be decided”.