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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Special Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Victory for all
By Salah MontasserHaving accepted to hand over the two Libyans suspected of having blown up the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie in 1988, Mu'ammar Gaddafi has put an end -- at least temporarily -- to the crisis the US and the UK have fuelled with accusations and a crippling sanctions regime. Despite Libya's consistent denials of any involvement with the attack, the US and Britain obtained a resolution from the Security Council approving economic sanctions against Libya, an international boycott on Libyan airspace, and an embargo on arms exports to Libya. The resolution passed smoothly, with no vetoes from any of the Security Council's five permanent members.
The bone of contention stuck firmly in Libya's throat was the US and UK's insistence that the suspects stand trial in the US, since Pan Am is an American-owned company, Britain, since the flight took off from London, or Scotland, since the plane crashed over Lockerbie. The web of suspicion which surrounded Libya at the time, and Libyan support of the IRA rebellion against British occupation, no doubt played a decisive role in the adoption of the resolution, as well as US and British intransigence as to the venue of the trial Libyan territory. For seven years, several parties offered their mediation, but, as Colonel Gaddafi charged, none were motivated by purely altruistic concerns. Their efforts, more often than not, went down in a blaze of failure.
Gaddafi himself had hoped that the Arab countries would offer to mediate in a compromise solution but, exasperated by their lukewarm response, he soon denounced the Arabs, and pan-Arabism too, for good measure. He went as far as to deny his Arab identity and to emphasise his African heritage, encouraged in this by the position of certain African countries which had led him to believe that they would not be bound by the sanctions.
When his attempts to persuade the world of the innocence of the two suspects failed, however, he adopted a more matter-of-fact approach. At this juncture, the good offices of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and South Africa proved invaluable. Mediation efforts focused on two points: the venue for the trial, and the judicial guarantees to be obtained. While the US and Britain may have scored a point by insisting on the delivery of the suspects, the choice of venue and the guarantees for a fair trial were necessary, as a face-saving measure, certainly, but also as a victory for the Libyans in their own right.
The trial is to take place in The Hague, and the procedures were, to some extent, agreed upon beforehand. Questions to be addressed to the two defendants are to be restricted to their whereabouts and activities at the time of the bombing, with no reference to their relation to the Libyan state or any of its agencies. Furthermore, it was agreed that the trial proper will begin in several months -- in other words, when excitement over the delivery of the suspects has died down, and calm has been restored. Eventually, both the Libyans and their accusers may come to feel that, in some ways, they have accomplished their aims, and emerged victorious.
