US President George W. Bush said yesterday it was a high
priority for the United States to win the release of five Bulgarian
nurses sentenced to death in Libya for infecting children with
HIV.
Ending an eight-day European tour in Bulgaria, Bush also called
for an exchange of information with Russia on the planned US
missile defense shield in central Europe and said he regretted the
collapse of an immigration bill back home.
"We strongly support the release of the Bulgarian nurses in
Libya," Bush told a news conference in Sofia. "It's a high priority
for our country."
"Together with the EU, the United States is contributing to a
fund to provide assistance to the Libyan children suffering from
this disease (HIV/AIDS) and to their families."
Bulgarians have expressed hope that Bush's intervention would
provide the final push to help bring home the five nurses and a
Palestinian doctor who were convicted in December of deliberately
infecting 426 children with HIV.
Their highly politicized trial has hampered attempts by OPEC
member Libya to restore full relations with the West.
In Tripoli, EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita
Ferrero-Waldner said she saw "a window of opportunity" for the
release of the six medics, in jail since 1999. They say they are
innocent and were tortured to make them confess.
Bush flew home from Sofia yesterday afternoon, having visited
the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Italy, the Vatican, Albania
and Bulgaria.
In Sofia, Bush shook hands and chatted with a group of
Bulgarians in central Nevski Square, but there was no outpouring of
affection he encountered in Albania on Sunday.
During the European trip Bush sought to bolster ties with
Western leaders at a G8 summit, but the trip was dogged by
US-Russian tensions, exacerbated by planned US missile defense
bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.
(China Daily June 12, 2007)
