03 December 1998
(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.