Bulgaria may write off Libya's debt

Bulgaria may write off Libya’s foreign debt to the country as part of humanitarian aid measures, the Bulgarian prime minister said today.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev insisted cancelling the £27m (€40m) debt should not be seen as payback for Tripoli’s release yesterday of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.

Stanishev said “It should not be viewed ”as paying ransom, or admitting (the medical workers’) guilt, but rather as a humanitarian gesture.“

Up to now, Bulgaria has vehemently rejected the idea of paying compensation to the families, or writing off some of Libya’s debt, saying such a move would be seen as an admission of the nurses’ guilt.

The medical personnel spent nearly a decade in jail in Libya over accusations they deliberately infected children with HIV.

In Tripoli, Libyan officials said European countries have promised millions of pounds to a fund created to compensate families of the infected children. The fund will provide “medical care, medical facilities and training of medical personnel,” Stanishev said.