By Paul Lewis
February 27, 1999
The United States and Britain warned Friday that they would seek additional sanctions against Libya unless it surrendered suspects in the Lockerbie airplane bombing within 30 days to be tried before a Scottish court in the Netherlands.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan supported the deadline, saying it was reasonable to expect Libya to provide an answer within 30 days whether it would hand over two men linked to the bombing in 1988 of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
The Security Council did not endorse the deadline. But during a routine review Friday of the sanctions imposed on Libya in 1992 to encourage the suspects' extradition, most members appeared to agree with Annan.
The secretary-general reported that he had sent a letter to the Libyan government saying that Libya had already been granted all the "explanations and clarifications" it had requested.
The United States and Britain said they would soon ask the council to commit itself to the 30-day deadline.
Libya's representative, Abuzed Omar Dorda, gave no indication how his government would respond, saying only that Libya would study Annan's letter "from a legal and a political point of view."
Libya will seek assurances that all sanctions will be lifted immediately if it complies, he said.
