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Bulgaria and Croatia recognize Libyan rebel authorities
Jun 28, 2011, 14:31 GMT
Sofia/Zagreb - Bulgaria and Croatia on Tuesday recognized the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council, the two countries said in a joint statement.
'More than three months the Libyan people have defended their right to freedom. Their legitimate demands were met with violent attacks by the forces of Muammer Gaddafi,' said the statement, issued during Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov's visit to Benghazi, the rebel capital.
'Bulgaria and Croatia regard the National Transitional Council ... as a legitimate representative of the Libyan people,' said the statement.
In Benghazi, Mladenov was scheduled to meet the head of the Transitional Council, Mahmoud Jibril, and other rebel and civic representatives.
Bulgaria has had troubled relations with Libya, which had jailed and sentenced six Bulgarian medics to death on charges they intentionally caused a 1997 HIV epidemic in a Benghazi hospital.
In March, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said that Sofia would not recognize the rebel government because some of its members took part in the prosecution and torture of Bulgarian medics. The medics were released in 2007.
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