French president Nicolas Sarkozy refuted the allegations he struck a deal with Libya, offering a nuclear reactor in exchange for the freedom of six Bulgarian medics.

"The only connection between the two events is that if the nurses were not freed, I would not have come here," Sarkozy said in Tripoli.

As part of his visit, the two countries signed a nuclear cooperation memorandum, which paves the way for France building a nuclear reactor in the North African country.

Libya has long pursued the goal of acquiring nuclear weapons, but officially gave up in 2003, after decades of international isolation, caused in part by its nuclear ambitions.

The country still has some 1600 tonnes of uranium, which it now wants to use in a nuclear reactor that would power a seawater desalination plant.

France will also help Libya prospect for uranium in the Sahara, close to the border with Niger, Africa's leading uranium-producing nation.

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