Sarkozy cuts deals with Gaddafi

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi finalized business deals worth several billion euros on Monday after a meeting in which the French leader said he also pressed the issue of human rights.

Sarkozy's own top rights official sparked controversy by strongly criticizing Gaddafi ahead of his first visit to France in 34 years, saying her country was not a "doormat" on which he could wipe off the blood of his crimes, and that she was uncomfortable with him arriving on World Human Rights Day.

Sarkozy defended his own record on human rights, saying he was right to receive Gaddafi after the Libyan leader scrapped a weapons of mass destruction program, stopped backing terrorism and freed a group of foreign medics in July.

"I am also here to fight at the side of French businesses and factories so that we have the contracts and orders that the others were so happy to have in our stead, without in any way renouncing my convictions on human rights," Sarkozy said.

After dinner, the two leaders oversaw the signing of contracts for Airbus planes, nuclear power and other deals which Paris said totaled more than 10 billion euros.

Libya's Afriqiyah Airlines signed a contract for six A350 aircraft, and Libyan Airlines signed deals for four A330, seven A320 and four A350 aircraft, Sarkozy's office said.

But Airbus, a unit of EADS, said the orders were the finalization of a memorandum of understanding signed at the Paris Air Show in June. The Airbus deals are estimated to be worth a total of around $3.17 billion at list prices.

"THEY'RE THERE"

A nuclear cooperation deal including the sale of one or several nuclear reactors for sea water desalination and support for uranium mining was signed, as were deals with gas firm GDF and nuclear power company Areva..

But few details were announced and it was not immediately clear where the large total value came from.

Asked where the 10 billion euros came from, Sarkozy's diplomatic adviser Jean-David Levitte said: "They're there".

But an industry source said a concrete order for a reactor was not set to be signed this week, estimating Areva's deal on power transmission and distribution to be worth around 300 million euros.

Contracts were also signed with French companies Vinci and Veolia Water, but Sarkozy's office gave no further details.

In the arms sector, the two countries signed a memorandum of cooperation, with Libya committing itself to enter exclusive negotiations with France to acquire equipment in the framework of state-to-state contracts, Sarkozy's office said.

Gaddafi is seeking to bolster his statesman's credentials as his ties with the West have warmed since 2003, when he scrapped his weapons of mass destruction programs.

Few details of his schedule have been announced, but he is due to meet Sarkozy on at least one other occasion during his five-day stay and will entertain in his Bedouin Arab tent pitched in the garden of the presidential guesthouse.

Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade, a junior member of the centre-right government, said in an interview with newspaper Le Parisien that France should demand guarantees on human rights when concluding trade deals.

"Colonel Gaddafi must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come and wipe the blood of his crimes off his feet. France should not receive this kiss of death," she said.

Sarkozy later defended Yade's right to speak out, saying: "She is secretary of state for human rights and it's perfectly normal that she has a conviction on this issue which, moreover, I share, and I reminded the Libyan president of that."

(Additional reporting by Jon Boyle, Emmanuel Jarry and Marie Maitre)