Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - December 27, 2005
The discussions between the Libyan Association of the Families of AIDS-Infected Children and the Bulgarian Agency for Promoting Ties with Libya were part of efforts to end an international dispute over the fate of the six who were accused by Moamar Gadhafi's government of deliberately infecting children with the HIV virus.
Ivan Chomakov, the head of the Bulgarian agency, which isn't part of the government, told national radio that the talks - which had been scheduled for Wednesday - wouldn't happen until mid-January. He wouldn't say why they were postponed.
In Tripoli, a top Libyan official also said talks were postponed.
"The talks has now to be put off for another time," according to a top Libyan official who spoke late Monday.
The delay came after angry protests by families of the infected children after the verdict by the Libyan supreme court Sunday that overturned death sentences imposed on the nurses and doctor.
The court decision for a retrial came three days after U.S., European, Bulgarian and Libyan negotiators reached a deal to set up a non-government fund to help families of the 426 children infected with HIV in the 1990s. About 50 of the children have died, according to a lawyer for the families.
The fund will be run by a board of directors, which will include representatives of the Gadhafi Foundation, the European Commission and the Bulgarian non-governmental agency for promoting ties with Libya.
It was expected that at Wednesday's talks the association of the Libyan families would announce the amount of compensation they request.
The U.S. and European Union had accused Libya of trumping up the charges against the Bulgarians to divert attention from poor hygiene at its hospitals.
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