New hope for Libyan AIDS six

The EU said yesterday it has made substantial progress in talks with Libya over the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. The six, who have spent eight years in prison already, are accused of the murder of 240 children EU officials spent two days lobbying Libyan officials on the weekend and met with Gaddafy's son who is in favour of an early release. A European Commission told a Brussels news briefing that efforts will continue to release the six, but didn't expand on what that will involve. The news came a day after US President Bush called for their release on a state visit to Bulgaria. The six medics have been sentenced to death after they were found guilty of infecting Libyan children with AIDS in a Benghazi hospital in 1998.

The two officials, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, left Tripoli on Monday. Steinmeier visited the five Bulgarian nurses on death row in Judeyda prison. "Libya has showed understanding on the case and I hope it will come to a positive end at my next visit to Jamahiriya [Libya]," said Steinmeier, whose country is president of the EU until the end of this month. His calls were echoed by Muammar Gaddafy son, Saif al-Islam, who praised European efforts to end the stand-off on the case.

Libya claims it will free the medics if an agreement is reached to pay compensation to the families of the children. Tripoli has demanded $13 million for each infected child's family. The EU has rejected this as an admission of guilt. However it has offered a fund for treatment for the children at European hospitals and already donated over $3 million to this plan. In 2005 Libya's ambassador to Britain, Mohammed al-Zaway, said Bulgaria should negotiate with the victims' families of the victims to decide on "dia", or blood money, which Sharia law allows to be paid to victims in murder cases to prevent a death sentence. "Any solution other than negotiations is a waste of time," said al-Zaway. "An agreement with the families of the children would reflect positively on the case according to Islamic law."

The nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death in May 2004 by firing squad for infecting 426 children through contaminated blood products at Al Fateh Children's Hospital in Benghazi, Libya. They also were ordered to pay a total of $1 million to the families of the HIV-positive children. The Libyan Supreme Court in December 2005 overturned the convictions and ordered a retrial in a lower court. Finally an appeal court convicted the health workers in December 2006 and re-affirmed the death sentence.

The crisis first came to light in November 1988 when a Libyan magazine called “La” published an expose about a mass incidence of AIDS at a Benghazi paediatric hospital. The article quoted the Libyan Health Minister Sulaiman al-Ghemari, who said that most of the 60 known cases were children. The children’s parents blamed faulty blood transfusions for transmitting the virus. The article created a huge stir and countered the official propaganda that Libya was AIDS-free. An outraged Gaddafy shut down the magazine. Despite the shutdown, it soon became apparent that not only was magazine’s allegations correct, it was worse than initially thought. Up to 400 children were infected.

Scapegoats were needed and authorities immediately arrested Filipino, Polish, Hungarian and Bulgarian clinic workers on suspicion of organising the spread of the virus. Finally the court filed charges against five Bulgarian nurses, a Bulgarian doctor and a Palestinian doctor. They were charged with premeditated homicide, "activities which led to a massacre designed to sap Libya's strength" and "a violation of the Islamic way of life," according to the Bulgarian foreign ministry. The nurses were also accused of working for the CIA and Mossad. "Nurses from little towns in Bulgaria acting as agents of Mossad?" said a daughter of one of the nurses. "It all sounds funny and absurd until you realize your mother could die for it”.

The six have now been in prison for over eight years. Their names are: Ashraf Ahmad Jum’a, the Palestinian doctor, and Nasya Stojcheva Nenova, Valentinaa Manolova Sropulo, Valya Georgieva Chervenyashka, Snezhanka Ivanova Dimitrova and Kristiana Malinova Valcheva, the five Bulgarian nurses. In 1999, Libya commissioned a World Health Organisation (WHO) report on the growing crisis. The report cited multiple causes but particularly blamed the lack of supplies and equipment including sterilised needles and protective gloves.

At the trial, the six suspects claimed they were tortured and forced into confessions. They said police used many methods including sexual assault, electric shock, hanging by the arms, threats with dogs while the prisoners were blindfolded, and beatings with electric cable on the soles of the feet. It was also reported that police officers forced the nurses to undress before them, put insects on their bodies and set dogs on them. But the defence lawyers were denied access to files and investigation results. The court later rejected the torture claim and the accused police officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

The court also ignored the testimony of Dr. Luc Montagnier, the French discoverer of the AIDS virus and Italian microbiology professor Vittorio Colizzi who evaluated more than 200 of the infected children and found the virus was present at least six months before the Bulgarian nurses arrived at the hospital. Montagnier and Colizzi’s report (pdf) concluded the virus was introduced through a contaminated injection and spread as a result of poor sanitary practices.

But at the trial the judge accepted the confessions backed up by testimony from Libyan medical experts for the prosecution who claimed the medics deliberately injected the AIDS virus into the patients. The six were sentenced to death in December 2006 in front of delighted parents of the infected children. The father of one child told the BBC “justice has spoken out with a ruling against those criminals and the punishment they deserve, because they violated their obligations and sold their consciences to the devil”.

While the fate of the six remains unknown, Libyan children continue to be at risk of AIDS due to poor sanitary practices in hospitals. The Association for Child Victims of Aids in Benghazi told Human Rights Watch in 2005 that 19 mothers of these children are also infected with the virus. The association’s spokesman Ramadan al-Faturi has demanded better training for Libyan doctors and psychological support for the families. “Tell the world that these children are innocent and suffering,” he said.

Bush at home in the Balkans

After running the gauntlet of protests in Germany and Poland, US President George W Bush is enjoying a better reception on his two day to the Balkans. Bush is now in Bulgaria, on the second leg of his Balkans tour after his astonishingly successful eight hour visit to Albania. In Sofia, the greeting was more low key, but is also expected to be cordial as Bulgaria is now a member of NATO, hosts several US military installations and has agreed to extend its small Iraqi deployment through to the end of 2008. The only cloud on the horizon is the US decision not to deploy its missile defence shield in the country.

On Monday, Bush will have a day of talks with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev. The country’s government hopes to change Bush’s mind about excluding southern Europe from the defence shield. The country is also worried by the clash between Bush and Russian President Putin over the shield. Bulgaria can see both sides of the quarrel as a former loyal ally of the Soviet Union and now an emerging EU democracy and may have a role to play in placating their Slavic big brother.

But however cordial the welcome in Bulgaria, it will be unlikely to match the extraordinary scenes of presidential adulation in Albania. George Bush may have record-low approval rating at home, but in Tirana he could do no wrong. His short visit was the first ever by a US president to this mostly Muslim country. Bush was greeted by Prime Minister Ali Berisha who described him as the "greatest and most distinguished guest we have ever had in all times".

Bush was greeted like a conquering hero when he went for a walkabout on the streets of the capital Tirana. People clamoured to get close to him and clapped and cheered, many wearing cardboard Uncle Sam hats and carrying signs saying Albania welcomes President Bush. Officials matched the warmth of the country’s people by awarding Bush the Order of the Flag medal, putting his image on a postage stamp and renaming a street in front of the parliament in his honour.

Bush responded in kind by signalling he was running out of patience with Russia’s stalling on the independence of Kosovo. The mostly-Albanian populated former province of Serbia has been run under the auspices of the UN and NATO since the war in 1999 but Russia rejected calls for its full independence at the G8 summit in Germany last week. Bush played to his Albanian audience by saying "Sooner rather than later you've got to say `Enough's enough - Kosovo is independent.”

Like Bulgaria, Albania has troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has tripled its troop numbers in Afghanistan to 140, and has about 120 troops in Iraq. Albania hopes the visit will help the country’s bid to join NATO and the EU. Government spokesman Grid Roy said it was the primary goal of the government and 94 percent of Albanians support integration into the international organisations. The country with its population of 3.5 million remains desperately poor and subject to mass emigration.

Albania emerged as a national identity out of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century local intellectuals standardized the Albanian language which was a unique mixture of Latin, Greek, and Slavic dialects, in process creating a literary style for educational use. Albania gained local autonomy in 1911 and used the Balkan Wars of the following two years to gain full independence. But it came at a cost, the Kosovo province was ceded to Serbia.

After World War I, the newly created Kingdom of Yugoslavia backed Albanian chieftain Ahmed Bey Zogu believing him to be a pliable tool of Belgrade. But Zogu had his own ambitions become Prime Minister in 1924 and turning himself into King Zog in 1928. Zog looked to Italy for support and over the next 15 years Albania would become a pawn of Mussolini’s Fascist empire. The Italian military overthrew him in 1939 and ruled the country directly until defeated in 1944.

Internal resistance against the Italians and Nazis was formed a communist insurgency led by Enver Hoxha. Hoxha got crucial British support in 1944 to take control of the newly independent Albania. He installed a Marxist government and ruthlessly suppressed all opposition. For the next 40 years he pursued an increasingly isolationist policy with first Stalin and then Mao, as his only distant ally. Hoxha died in 1985 and the country underwent significant upheaval as Communism fell apart in Eastern Europe at the end of the decade.

In 1990 Albania reorganised itself into a multiparty democracy. The EU was quick to support its process of institutional, political and economic reform. Since then, the country has set a path towards a market-based economy. Initially the country went backwards with much economic hardship as government run enterprises stalled. The entire industrial sector collapsed shortly after Albania emerged from communism, triggering an exodus of 300,000 people to Italy and Greece. In 1997, the country descended into anarchy following the collapse of fraudulent pyramid investment schemes

In 2000, at Summit Zagreb the country joined the rest of the Western Balkan nations in signing a crucial stabilisation and association process agreement with the EU. The EU reaffirmed its commitment at the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit to the integration into the Union of the countries of the Western Balkans. Albania’s growing westernisation is also underscored by its desire to join NATO. While meeting Bush, Prime Minister Berisha said the country would increase its defence budget by 2 per cent. A beaming Bush will gladly accede, if only for the chance to repeat an increasingly rare positive photo opportunity.

Romania and Bulgaria join EU

Two new countries joined the EU on New Year’s Day. Bulgaria and Romania brought the total number of EU countries to 27. The countries add a population 30 million to the EU’s existing 460 million, but they will add just 1 per cent to its economic output. Irish PM Bertie Ahern said yesterday’s accession was a "cause for celebration". He continued, "I have every confidence that accession to the Union will be as significant and as positive for Bulgaria and Romania as it has been for Ireland."

Not everyone shares Ahern’s optimism about the EU newest members. Bulgaria and Romania were deemed too politically and economically backward for membership during the EU's first ten-member eastward expansion in 2004. Now almost half of the EU are former eastern bloc countries that were in the shadow of the Soviet Union until 1989. However this likely to be the limit of EU expansion for the foreseeable future. Europe is suffering from “enlargement fatigue". Countries in the queue such as Turkey, Croatia and the southern Balkan countries will have to wait until at least 2010.

No such problems for Romania and Bulgaria. Crowds in Bucharest and Sofia brought in the New Year with street parties and spectacular fireworks to mark their countries new status. Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov said in a speech in Sofia that 1 January 2007, was the most important date in his country's history. In capital, Bucharest, President Traian Basescu told a cheering crowd packing University Square that Romania has finally arrived in Europe. 80% of Romanians support the accession to the EU.

It will take years for the countries to join the more exclusive club of countries using the euro currency. Of the 2004 expansion countries only Slovenia has achieved the economic stability required to join the euro club. They became the 13th EU country to remove their local currency (the tolar) and implement the euro on 1 January. Malta is likely to be the 14th in 2008.

Several EU states have put restrictions on the number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers, fearing a huge influx. Predictions on how many will come to Britain vary from 56,000 to 180,000 in the first year. Unlike the open door policy of 2004, the British Home Office plans to limit the right to work for Bulgarians and Romanians. Unskilled workers will initially be limited to quota-based schemes in the agricultural and food processing sectors. Skilled workers can get a permit, if they are students, or self-employed. The Conservative opposition said allowing any EU citizen to work in the UK if they were self-employed was a "big loophole".

Romania is the bigger of the new entrants with 21 million inhabitants. Wallachia and Moldavia were provinces of the Ottoman Empire for many centuries before securing independence under the new name of Romania in 1856. It fought on the side of Hitler in World War II. The post-war Soviet occupation led to the formation of a communist "people's republic" in 1947. Nicolae Ceaucescu’s rule was brought to a bloody end in 1989. Surprisingly, the Communists dominated elections ever since. Romania was admitted to NATO in 2004. The current government is a coalition of four parties led by the National Liberal Party.

Bulgaria re-elected its pro-European Socialist President Georgi Parvanov in October 2006. He won with a 75% landslide. Bulgaria has 8 million people and was an Ottoman province like its neighbour. Bulgaria won independence in 1878. It suffered a major defeat in the 1913 Balkans War and its losses were compounded when it entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers. It was also an ally of Hitler and was occupied by the Red Army at the end of World War II. Bulgaria had a peaceful transition to democracy in 1989 but has found the transition to democracy and a market economy difficult after the collapse of communism.

Throughout the first half of the decade that followed, Bulgaria suffered severe political instability and strikes. Matter improved under former king Simeon II, who as prime minister between 2001 and 2005, forced through market reforms to meet EU economic targets. Corruption and organised crime remain issues of concern. Bulgaria will also be looking to the EU to help free five of its nationals imprisoned in Libya. Five Bulgarian nurses, along with a Palestinian doctor, were sentenced to death on December 19 for deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV in 1999. Tripoli claims 50 dead children were injected with HIV in a botched attempt to find a cure for AIDS.