Jesse Jackson, Gadhafi to meet on Sudan

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 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. 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. [more ]