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Libya, Bulgaria agree on fund for Libyan HIV children
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http://www.100md.com 2005-12-24
xinhuanet |
TUNIS, Dec. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Bulgaria and Libya have agreed to set up a fund for the HIV-infected children in Libya as part of the international efforts to solve disputes over six medics sentenced to death for infecting children with the virus, reports from Libya's capital Tripoli said Friday.
The United States, the current EU president Britain and Bulgaria, which have denounced the verdict, have all signed up to the fund, Libya's official news agency reported on Friday.
The Libyan and Bulgarian sides will meet next week to decide the precise amount of compensation as well as medical care and welfare for the HIV-infected children and their families, officialsaid.
The EU-proposed fund was part of the move by the international community to save five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who were sentenced to death by a Libyan court last year for infecting 426 children with HIV in a Libyan hospital. About 50 of the children have died.
Libya's Supreme Court has scheduled an appeal hearing for Dec. 25 as the nurses claimed their confessions were made under torture.
AIDS experts said the outbreak began before the nurses arrived at the hospital in Libya's port city of Benghazi and was probably caused by poor hygiene.
Bulgaria has insisted that the nurses are innocent and Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said on Friday that his country is willing to pay a high price for the release of the nurses.
Reports say there is a possibility that Libya may allow the five nurses, who have been in jail in Libya since 1999, to be extradited to Bulgaria.
Libya has in the past suggested the verdict could be annulled if the children and their families receive sufficient humanitarian aid.
Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dimitar Tsanchev said on Friday that the fund was intended only to help the families of thesick children, adding that Bulgaria will not pay compensation that could be seen as an admission of the nurses' guilt. Enditem
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