Reuters
February 28, 1999
Tunis, Tunisia - Libya said Saturday it could not accept a time limit set by the United States and Britain to hand over two Libyans accused of blowing up a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
"The Great Jamahiriyah (Libya) cannot accept that its two nationals appear in court before reaching final agreement on the arrangements that would guarantee them justice,'' a foreign affairs ministry official said in a statement carried by the official Libyan news agency JANA, monitored in Tunis.
Those making the demands "do not really want to conduct a fair trial,'' it said.
"It is not possible to discuss a deadline before an agreement on the arrangement and the guarantees that had been demanded by Libya.''
The United States and Britain -- who want the suspects tried in the Netherlands before a Scottish court -- warned Libya Friday it had 30 days to deliver the two men but did not say what would happen if Tripoli refused.
"The United Kingdom and the American governments are both very interested in a final decision within the next month,'' Britain's U.N. ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said Friday.
But Libya's U.N. envoy, Abuzed Omar Dorda, said the full Security Council had not issued an ultimatum. He said Tripoli still wanted U.N. sanctions lifted rather than suspended in exchange for any surrender of the suspects.
A total of 270 people were killed in the Lockerbie disaster, including 11 on the ground. Most of the dead were Americans.
Greenstock and U.S. Ambassador Peter Burleigh said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had asked Tripoli Thursday for a date when the two suspects would be handed over.
"We have given them all the explanations and clarifications necessary, so the next stage would be for the Libyans to decide when the two accused will be turned over for trial in the Netherlands,'' Annan told reporters, adding he was "reasonably optimistic'' of a breakthrough.
The Security Council completed its four-month review of its sanctions against Libya Friday without discussing or making any changes, council President Robert Fowler of Canada said.
An August resolution calls for an automatic suspension of the sanctions once the two suspects have arrived in the Netherlands.
To reimpose the embargo would take nine positive votes and no veto from any of the council's five permanent members, a nearly impossible feat.
