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USIS Washington 
File

03 December 1998

UN'S KOFI ANNAN IS TRAVELING TO LIBYAN TO DISCUSS LOCKERBIE TRIAL

(Diplomats hope suspects will be in the Netherlands soon)  (610)

By Judy Aita

USIA United Nations Correspondent



United Nations -- UN diplomats are hopeful that Secretary General Kofi
Annan's trip to Libya December 5 will lead to the two suspects in the
bombing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland 10 years ago going to
the Netherlands to stand trial soon.


On a visit to northern Africa, Annan told journalists in Tunis
December 3 that he would be adding to his itinerary a trip to Libya to
discuss the Lockerbie bombing this weekend. The Secretary General said
he expected to meet with Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qadhafi.


"I will leave on Saturday morning for Libya for discussions with
Colonel Mu'ammar Qadhafi. I am going to try to settle this problem
once and for all," Annan told reporters in Tunis.


In August the United States and Britain proposed that the two suspects
in the 1988 bombing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which
270 were killed -- Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Lamen
Khalifa Fhimah -- be tried before a Scottish court sitting in the
Netherlands.


The two countries had been encouraged to make the compromise by the
Arab League, the Islamic Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement and the
Organization of African Unity which had been involved in trying to
find a compromise. Washington and London had insisted that the two be
tried in either the United States or Scotland.


Nevertheless, Libya has not accepted the offer, instead requesting
further clarifications from the United Nations. The Security Council
directed the Secretary General to work with the Netherlands to help
Libya with the physical arrangements for the safe transfer of the two
accused from Libya and asked the Secretary General to nominate
international observers to attend the trial. For the past several
weeks UN legal counsel Hans Correl has been working with Libyan
lawyers and US and British officials in an attempt to answer Libya's
questions on the trial and detention plans.


At UN headquarters in New York, US Ambassador Nancy Soderberg said
that the United States hopes that the trip will result in the two
suspects being turned over for trial.


"We would expect a meeting between the Secretary General and Libyan
officials to produce a hand over of the suspects. We expect that to be
the purpose of his travel to Libya," Soderberg said.


Both the United States and Britain "have gone the extra mile and Libya
has been given every opportunity to comply with the UN Security
Council resolutions," the ambassador said.


"It has been almost 10 years since the Pan Am 103 tragedy. The
families of the victims have waited long enough for justice," she
said.


British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said that he interpreted the
Secretary General's trip as "a good sign."


"We hope it will lead to the right answer -- which is a chance for the
two accused to go to a third country for trial," the British
ambassador said.


In April 1992 the Council imposed mandatory sanctions cutting air
links to Libya because of Qadhafi's failure to cooperate with the
United States and Britain in the extradition of the two Libyan
suspects and with France in the investigation of the bombing of a UTA
flight. In November 1993, the Council added to the original sanctions,
freezing Tripoli's assets and embargoing equipment needed by Libya's
oil industry.


The Security Council said in August that the sanctions would be
suspended once the two suspects are in the Netherlands for trial.


The Council's sanctions committee has also given the Secretary General
permission to fly into Libya, a UN spokesman said December 3.