| Posted by fluffy ® , Sep 12,2003,12:38 | MetroBlab |
Confusion as Libya cites conditions for UTA pay-out
By Mark John
PARIS, Sept. 12 � Libya's offer of compensation for families of the 170 people killed in the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner was thrown into doubt on Friday after a key Libyan negotiator unveiled conditions for the pay-out.
The offer prompted France to drop its threat to veto the lifting of U.N. sanctions imposed on Libya after the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. The U.N. Security Council vote on Friday triggered the release of up to $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 Lockerbie victims.
But Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and head of the private fund that will handle the UTA pay-outs, said the agreement concluded with the families on Thursday would also involve demands on France.
''It is a political accord covering various areas. The compensation is just one part of an overall settlement with France,'' he told Le Figaro daily.
Saif al-Islam said Libya wanted to resolve the cases of six Libyans convicted in absentia by a French court in 1999 for the bombing, and whom Tripoli insists are innocent. It also wanted to upgrade relations with Paris by signing a friendship pact.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman repeated that France would not oppose the lifting of U.N. sanctions on Libya and said Saif al-Islam's comments ''were not an official government statement.''
''Our position on the six Libyans remains unchanged,'' he said of the court judgment made against them three years ago. An international warrant has been issued for their arrest.
In Libya, Saif al-Islam is regarded as instrumental in Tripoli's drive to normalise relations with the West. Diplomats say his views often reflect his father's thinking.
His comments prompted fears that Tripoli wanted to weaken the UTA accord, which is already expected to be less favourable than the Lockerbie pay-out.
France originally accepted $34 million from Libya for the UTA bombing, but it was in a bid to increase that compensation that France threatened to veto the lifting of U.N. sanctions on Libya.
''This (the demands) was not in the accord we reached,'' said Francoise Rudetzki of the SOS Attentats victims group. ''These comments make me fear that perhaps Libya will go back on its word,'' she said.
The final amount of extra compensation is to be announced by Libya within a month. Sources close to the talks said a figure of between $500,000 and $1 million per family was discussed.
Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, son of one of victims and one of the key negotiators for the families in the latter stages, said he remained confident of securing a final accord with Libya in a second phase of talks in coming weeks.
But Rudetzki was less confident. ''No figure has been announced,'' she said. ''Yes, I'm worried.''