France and Libya made several agreements this week, including a weapons deal, an arrangement to conduct joint military exercises, and the sale of a nuclear power reactor to Tripoli.

Libya has scored a $405 million weapons contract with France, mostly comprised of Milan missiles; the deal also includes advanced communications equipment.

This is the first such agreement with any Western nation since the early 1990s, when Libya was well known as a state sponsor of terrorism and placed under sanctions. Sanctions were lifted in 2003 when Colonel Moammar Qadhafi announced he would dismantle his country’s nuclear weapons program and agreed to compensate the families of the 270 victims who died in the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103. The EU lifted its arms embargo against Libya in 2004, but this is the first arms deal since the embargo was lifted.

Qadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, announced the joint military exercise agreement, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy personally announced the deal to sell Libya a nuclear-powered plant to desalinate seawater.

In an interesting twist, Libya freed a group of medics held for eight years on charges of infecting Libyan children with hiv just hours before President Sarkozy’s visit. Though the government denies claims that the arms sales and the agreement to free the prisoners are related, the sudden spurt of unprecedented cooperation between Paris and Tripoli has left many in France wondering why its government is cooperating with a country with such a volatile and unsavory history.

Weapons buildup is on the rise throughout the Middle East. Both Iran and Saudi Arabia announced major weapons deals last month. Libya gave up its weapons of mass destruction in 2003, but ultimately, as the Trumpet’s editor in chief warned in May 2006, its foreign policy will change as it becomes more aligned with Iran. For more information, read “Libya Sees the Deadly Holy Roman Empire.”