The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
**Libyan Defence Team Requests Release of Secretary-General's 1999 Letter on Lockerbie Incident
I'm going to start -- surprisingly to you, I think -- with Lockerbie. The Defence team for the two Libyan suspects in the trial over the bombing of the civilian airliner that went down over Lockerbie, Scotland, has requested the United Kingdom authorities to release the letter that the Secretary-General sent to Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi in February of last year explaining the terms of the trial.
On Tuesday of this week, the Secretary-General sent to the United Kingdom Ambassador here at the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, a copy of the requested letter. Today at noon, both the United Kingdom Government and the United States Government made the letter and the Secretary-General's cover letter to Ambassador Greenstock, public.
We are therefore also making these two letters public, and United Nations Legal Counsel Hans Corell will be here shortly to take any questions you might have.
Copies of those letters are available on the table in the corner of the room, as well as in my office.