Heroes’ welcome for Sarkozy and Cameron in Libya

NICOLAS SARKOZY and David Cameron landed in Libya to a heroes’ welcome yesterday, promising help for the new rulers French and British air power helped install and being told the favour may be repaid in oil and reconstruction deals.

Just three weeks after rebel forces backed by NATO bombers overran Muammar Gaddafi’s capital, French President Sarkozy and the British prime minister were met by the smiling leaders of the disparate coalition which overthrew him and took impromptu cheers from medical staff while visiting a hospital.

At a news conference held under heavy security and the eyes of attack helicopters overhead, interim premier Mahmoud Jibril spoke of “our thanks for this historic stance” taken by the two European leaders, whose backing for the February uprising drew a hesitant United States and some Arab governments into a war that did not always look set to end well for the rebels.