Libya has signed contracts with France to buy anti-tank missiles and
radio communications equipment worth $405m (£199m), Libyan officials
have said.
The arms agreement is Libya's first with a Western country since a
European Union embargo was lifted in 2004.
France has confirmed the missile deal - the larger of the two.
Last month Libya agreed to release six Bulgarian medics convicted of
infecting children with HIV. France denies that the move was linked to
any arms deal.
Libyan officials, speaking to reporters anonymously, said Libya was
purchasing Milan anti-tank missiles worth $230m and radio
communications equipment worth $175m.
Both contracts were secured by subsidiaries of the European aerospace
and defence giant EADS, they said.
EADS and French Defence Minister Herve Morin confirmed that the sale of
the anti-tank missiles had been agreed.
The firm said the deal had been reached after 18 months of talks.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing questions over the timing of the
deal with Libya, coming so soon after his government helped secure the
release of the medics.
France's opposition Socialist leader Francois Hollande has called for a
parliamentary inquiry into the negotiations between France and Libya.
Normalised ties
The five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian-born doctor were freed on 24
July and flown to Bulgaria after years of negotiations that concluded
with French mediation.
Deal fuels French row
They were released in exchange for medical assistance and the
normalisation of ties between Libya and the EU.
The following day Mr Sarkozy met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in
Tripoli and signed agreements on a range of issues including security,
health care and immigration.
Mr Sarkozy's office has denied that any arms agreements were signed
during that visit.
The six medics, who spent eight years in jail in Libya, had always
maintained they were innocent, saying their confessions were extracted
under torture.
They were allowed to go to Bulgaria last month, after their death
sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. On their arrival in
Bulgaria, they were pardoned by the president.
Libya began emerging from international isolation in late 2003, when it
surrendered its nuclear and other banned weapons research.
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France and Libya sign arms deal
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