Jesse Jackson, Gadhafi to meet on Sudan
TRIPOLI, Libya (CNN) -- U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson is waiting in Tripoli for a meeting with Libyan officials to discuss the north African nation's role in the crisis in Sudan.
He said Tuesday he also hoped to talk to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi about the conviction last May of seven medical personnel for allegedly spreading the AIDS virus.
Jackson told CNN he believed Libya and Gadhafi were in a good position to play a leadership role in resolving the humanitarian conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
The conflict in Darfur began last year when black Sudanese rebels attacked government property, accusing the government of neglecting Darfur in favor of the Arab population in Sudan.
The Sudanese government is accused of responding by supporting the Janjaweed Arab militias to put down the rebellion.
The violence has left at least 30,000 dead and displaced more than a million people. Jackson said he also believed that Gadhafi can help strengthen the African Union's role in resolving the problems.
His visit to Libya came on the same day Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was in Sudan to press the government on ending the violence. (Full story)
Meanwhile Tuesday, deadlocked peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebel groups resumed Tuesday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The case of five Bulgarian medical personnel and a Palestinian doctor convicted of spreading AIDS to 400 Libyans -- mostly children -- is also high on Jackson's agenda. At least 23 of the infected children reportedly died of AIDS.
Jackson told CNN he wanted to discuss the case with the Libyans and meet with the prisoners.
Following the arrests in February 1999, the Libyan government accused six Bulgarians and the Palestinian doctor of being part of a CIA and Israeli secret police plot, but officials later changed the accusation, alleging that they infected the Libyans as part of an experiment to develop a cure.
Several leading AIDS experts -- including Dr. Luc Montagne, co-discoverer with an American doctor of the virus that causes AIDS -- testified during the trial on behalf of the medical workers.
Montagne said he believed the Libyans were likely infected more than a year before the Bulgarians arrived in Libya.
Despite the expert testimony, a Libyan court on May 6 sentenced the Palestinian doctor and five of the Bulgarians to death by firing squad. They have appealed, but no ruling has been issued.
The sixth Bulgarian was sentenced to four years in prison for currency violations. He has already served four years since his arrest, and Bulgarian authorities are pressing for his release.
CNN's Cairo Bureau Chief Ben Wedeman in Tripoli contributed to this report.
