France’s Sarkozy rows back on nuclear help for Libya

French President Nicolas Sarkozy backpedalled from a denial and acknowledged on Wednesday that he had discussions with Muammar Gaddafi about selling a nuclear reactor to Libya some four years before Paris helped topple the late dictator in 2011.France’s readiness to provide a reactor to Gaddafi’s Libya has become a hot issue ahead of the election, eclipsing Sarkozy’s key role in helping drive the dictator from power last year, which he frequently portrays as one of his achievements.Trailing in opinion polls four days from the first round of a presidential election, Sarkozy had said on Tuesday there was “never any question” of selling a reactor, denying an allegation from the former head of French nuclear group Areva.Labelling the accusation on Wednesday as “grotesque,” Sarkozy said only a seawater desalination plant had been under consideration in 2007, although he conceded that it would have required a reactor to meet its power needs.“This project remained at the stage of a project because several months later Gaddafi descended into a folly of destruction,” Sarkozy said in an interview with BFM TV.“There was never the shadow of a possibility of it being made a reality.”