February 15, 1999
An end to the Lockerbie stand-off was in sight yesterday, after Saudi and South African mediators brokered a deal that could lead to the transfer of two Libyan suspects to The Netherlands for trial.
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard confirmed at the weekend that Washington-based Saudi officials had informed UN secretary-general Kofi Annan that "all outstanding issues have been resolved". Mr Annan issued a statement saying he was "greatly encouraged" by the news, and was said to be cautiously optimistic that the Libyans had taken a decision to hand over the two suspects in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said: "I am more encouraged than before that we could see justice done in a court trial . . . at last it looks as if we could be approaching the end game." But he also said in a statement issued early yesterday in London that he would not "let out any sigh of relief until the two suspects land in The Netherlands".
US officials reacted cautiously to the Saudi claim, and State Department spokesman James Foley said the only proof of an agreement would be "the actual transfer of the prisoners to the secretary-general".
According to Western diplomats familiar with the process, Mr Annan's legal team is in the process of drafting a letter to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that would lay down the terms of the agreement brokered by the mediators. The letter, according to the diplomats, is not expected to be finalised until tomorrow at the earliest.
The two outstanding issues concerned the place of incarceration of the suspects if found guilty, and Libya's insistence that UN sanctions should be lifted rather than simply suspended as the UN Security Council proposed in August.
Until now, Libya had balked at British and US insistence that the pair – Abdel Basset Ali el-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah – should be jailed in a Scottish prison, apparently fearing they could be debriefed by British intelligence. But Libya now has accepted their incarceration in Scotland in the light of a British proposal, put to Mr Annan last week, that UN monitors be stationed at the jail, according to the diplomats. Regarding the sanctions issue, Washington and London have agreed that Mr Annan would certify that Libya no longer is involved in terrorist activities.
An air and arms embargo was imposed in 1992 to press Tripoli to hand over the two suspects wanted for the 1988 bombing of the US airliner that left 270 people dead.
Under the latest deal, the sanctions would be suspended in line with UN resolutions as soon as the suspects arrive in The Netherlands, and would be fully lifted 90 days later following Mr Annan's certification about the end of Libyan terrorist activities, the diplomats said.
Libya's Foreign Ministry said in a weekend statement that "positive results were reached in the Lockerbie matter thanks to the intensive efforts of Saudi Arabia and South Africa", which have been mediating since December at Mr Annan's request. But the Libyan ministry said that "given the positive results achieved, the next review of the unjust sanctions against Libya must lead to their lifting".
Britain and the US have threatened to tighten sanctions unless the men are handed over by February 26 when the UN Security Council reviews the Libya embargo.
