April 30, 2003
The Libyan government has accepted responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and set up a fund to compensate victims' families, Foreign Minister Mohammed Abderrahmane Chalgam said on Wednesday. The United States has demanded that Tripoli accept the responsibility for the bombing and pay compensation before U.N. and U.S. sanctions can be scrapped, a moment eagerly awaited by at least four U.S. oil companies.
A British official said after the announcement Washington and London were discussing the outstanding requirements. ``We have taken on the responsibility for this case on the basis of the international law which states that the state takes on responsibility for what its employees do,'' Chalgam said.
In a statement received by Reuters, he also said Libya had set up a fund to compensate victims' families. ``The provisioning of that fund with the decided amount has started,'' he added. A Pan Am airliner exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988, killing 270 people. Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset al-Magrahi was convicted for the crime in 2001 by a court sitting in the Netherlands.
Libyan officials have held talks with government officials from Britain and the United States in recent months, the latest in early March. The sticking point had been Libya's acceptance of government responsibility rather than the compensation, which was largely agreed last year and could reach $10 million per victim, or about $2.7 billion in total, Tripoli-based diplomats said.
In an apparent face-saving bid, Chalgam did not mention a direct government role collecting compensation funds but said Libyan and foreign businessmen as well as Libyan and foreign companies were ``participating in the collection of the money.'' ``We are working seriously to end the Lockerbie case and close definitively this matter in a short period,'' he said.
The United States had said it had yet to get official confirmation on the Libyan move. ``We have seen press reports but have heard nothing officially from the Libyan government,'' a U.S. official said on Tuesday. ``The U.S. and the UK have held a series of trilateral meetings with Libya aimed at attaining Libyan compliance with its UN Security Council obligations related to the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing. These obligations include payment of compensation and acceptance of responsibility. The last trilateral meeting, which was on March 11, made progress but Libya has yet not met the U.N. requirements.'' the official said.
In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said on Wednesday ``we and the Americans are discussing the outstanding requirements. The requirements are that Libya accepts responsibility for the actions and pays compensation.'' ``We had a useful and productive meeting last month and we will be looking forward to resuming our talks,'' she added.
The United Nations and European Union suspended sanctions in 1999, including an air and arms embargo and a ban on some oil equipment, when Libya handed over two Lockerbie suspects for trial by Scottish judges in the Netherlands. European firms have grabbed new Libyan acreage while Washington's unilateral ban kept U.S. companies sidelined.
Four U.S. oil companies, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Amerada Hess Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp., are hoping to resume operations in Libya, on hold since U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered an embargo in 1986. If sanctions are lifted the United States would also be able to buy Libyan oil again for the first time in 17 years.
Libyan officials have said they would give priority to negotiations with U.S. companies on frozen assets if Washington lifts sanctions.
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