Issue No.589
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6 - 12 June 2002 Issue No.589 Region |
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Lockerbie saga continues
If Libya wants UN sanctions lifted, it will have to do more than provide financial compensation to the families of Lockerbie victims, say US officials. Anayat Durrani reports from Washington
Libyan negotiators are offering to pay $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 people killed in the 1988 bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, despite denials by the Libyan government that it had agreed to the settlement.
The New York law firm of Kreindler & Kreindler, which represents the families of 118 victims, announced last Tuesday that Libya is prepared to pay each victim's family $10 million in compensation, in exchange for a lifting of sanctions set by the UN and US against Libya. The proposed settlement includes compensating relatives of those killed on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Compensation would be paid in installments tied to the lifting of sanctions: 40 per cent of the money would be released when UN sanctions are lifted, another 40 per cent when US commercial sanctions are lifted, and the remaining 20 per cent when Libya is removed from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.
James Kreindler, a member of the team that has been negotiating with the Libyans for 10 months, said the families could receive the first 40 per cent as early as this summer, if Libya meets conditions set by the UN Security Council.
Tripoli released an official statement last week denying claims that it had proposed giving any compensation to the families of Lockerbie victims. The statement said, "Libya has no relation to this claimed agreement and is not a basic player in it." The statement went on, "According to our information, Libyan businessmen and lawyers held talks with the lawyers of the families of the victims, but they did not brief us officially on the results of these talks."
Kreindler & Kreindler, however, insisted that any offers made in the settlement talks with Libya remain on the table. "I am 100 per cent satisfied that nothing has changed since Tuesday morning, when we received confirmation of the settlement," James Kreindler told the Associated Press.
The UN Security Council has called on Libya to compensate the victims' families as a move towards improving the country's standing in the international community. The Security Council also demanded that Libya admit responsibility for the bombing, formally renounce terrorism and cooperate with the trial against two intelligence agents implicated in the Lockerbie case. The Security Council would lift the UN sanctions only after it is satisfied that all conditions have been met by Libya.
Since 1986, Washington has imposed a ban on travel and trade with Libya after accusing the country of state-sponsored terrorism. Libya remains on the State Department's list of countries that support terrorism, along with Iraq, Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba. Libya has been on the list since 1979. Last week, the US State Department released its annual report on terrorism, suggesting that Libya was cracking down on any involvement with terrorist activities. "Libya appears to have curtailed its support for international terrorism, although it may maintain residual contacts with a few groups," the report said.
The United Nations in 1992 also imposed trade and travel sanctions after Libya refused to hand over the two suspects in the PanAm bombing. Those sanctions against Libya were suspended in April 1999, however, after Libyan Leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi turned over the two men to a Scottish court convened at a former military base in the Netherlands.
A bomb brought down PanAm Flight 103, en route from London to New York, over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, killing all 259 people on the plane as well as 11 people on the ground. Former Libyan intelligence agent Abdel-Baset Ali Mohamed Al-Megrahi was convicted of blowing up the airliner and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001.
In recent years, Gaddafi has made efforts to patch up relations with Washington as well as improve his image worldwide. Following 11 September, the Libyan leader condemned the attacks, offered condolences, and urged his countrymen to donate blood to help the victims. He provided information to the US on Libyans with possible links to Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qa'eda network. He also claims to have closed guerilla camps and expelled terrorists from Libya in an effort to promote peace and security internationally.
Family members of those killed in the 1988 bombing of PanAm Flight 103 have reacted to the settlement offer with some scepticism, denouncing the conditions of the proposed settlement. Reaction in Washington to the compensation offer has been somewhat cautious. Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the settlement offer as a "step in the right direction," but added that no deal was on the table yet.
"It certainly is a step in the right direction, but I don't think it resolves the entire issue, or resolves all the outstanding issues that have to be dealt with respect to Libya and Pan Am 103," he said after a meeting with Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al- Qerbi. "We are waiting to see what the actual Libyan offer is," Powell said. "It's not yet formally on the table. And we'll examine it when we see all of its elements."
The US government has not been involved in talks over compensation. The State Department has called the issue of compensation one to be decided between Libya and lawyers for the victims' families. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that reaching an agreement between Libya and families of Lockerbie victims will be "of special importance." However, he added that US sanctions would not be lifted as long as the UN sanctions remain in place. "If the families work out a compensation agreement, that would be a highly significant factor in our considering whether Libya in fact was starting to meet some of these requirements of the UN resolutions," Boucher said. "But we'll not be in a position to seriously address bilateral issues with Libya until the UN requirements are met." Boucher said that a meeting would be held between American and Libyan officials in London on 6 June to discuss the matter.
Experts on US-Libyan relations, however, are aware that the dispute between the two countries is not limited to the issue of compensating the Lockerbie victims. Washington wants Gaddafi to stop his alleged support for Palestinian resistance groups opposed to peace with Israel. The Libyan leader claims to have closed several camps for armed Palestinian groups in his country, but has continued to lash out at the United States for its policy in the Middle East and support for Israel. Washington also accuses Tripoli of seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction, particularly chemical and biological weapons. But Libya vehemently denies those charges and has repeatedly declared its readiness to accept international inspectors to refute US claims.
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