UN chief seeks final Lockerbie
trial deal
From THE
SCOTSMAN - Scotlands leading daily news
Background information at end
of article
Monday November 30, 1998 The United
Nations secretary-general, is hoping to travel to Libya this weekend to
complete the handover of the two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing.
It is understood from diplomatic sources that Mr Annan is optimistic that
the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, is finally prepared to surrender
the pair for trial in the Netherlands.
Scottish Office sources indicated
that the technical details of a handover are in place, though they insist
that the final decision is one which will be taken by Col Gaddafi himself.
They suggested that Col Gaddafi's own unpredictability was now the sole
obstacle to a handover. Mr Annan will not decide whether or not to travel
to Libya until later this week and will go only if he gets an indication
from Tripoli that the two accused, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and al-Amin
Khalifa Fhimah, will he handed over. The UN Security Council has agreed
to lift the sanctions when the men are handed over for trial. Although
Mr Annan is optimistic, his UN team cannot predict how Col Gaddafi will
respond.
In
August, Britain and the United States offered a compromise to break the
ten-year deadlock. They agreed to allow the suspects to be tried in the
Netherlands rather than in Scotland, but under Scots law and with a panel
of Scottish judges instead of a jury. Washington and London have hinted
that they will push for a strengthening of sanctions if Col Gaddafi does
not accept this "non-negotiable" deal, though they are unlikely to be able
to command enough support for a full oil embargo. In September, the lawyers
used by the accused were dismissed and a new team, including a former Libyan
foreign minister, was appointed.
The former legal team, including
the Edinburgh lawyer Alistair Duff, refused to guarantee that the suspected
bombers would surrender for trial. Their dismissal was interpreted as a
sign that Col Gaddafi wanted a legal team that would recommend that the
accused accept the new offer from Britain and the US. The new legal team
has had long discussions at the UN headquarters in New York with the UN
legal counsel, Hans Corell, to seek assurances about their treatment.
It is understood that the only sticking
point is the Libyans' demand that the suspects serve their sentences in
the Netherlands or Tripoli if convicted. Britain and the US are adamant
that they would serve their sentences in Scotland. Libya has said it accepts
in principle a trial in the Netherlands. Col Gaddafi is under intense pressure
from allies in the Arab League and the Organisation of African Unity to
accept the offer. It is understood that President Mandela of South Africa
and the Egyptian government have been pressing him to accept.
Mr Annan said last week: "I think
we have offered most of the clarifications and I had hoped we would be
able to bring the issue to closure by the end of November. We are still
pressing for that." This was interpreted by diplomats as meaning that Mr
Annan is optimistic about securing a trial. He is in North Africa this
week and will be in Tunis on Friday. He has scheduled rest time in Djerba,
Tunisia, over the weekend before flying to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab
Emirates for a Gulf Co-operation Council meeting.
But he will go to Libya at the weekend
to conclude the handover of the suspects if a deal looks likely. The final
decision still rests with Tripoli and Mr Annan cannot be sure how Col Gaddafi
will respond. If the accused agree to give themselves up they will hand
themselves into the custody of the United Nations which will deliver them
to the Netherlands.
An extradition agreement reached
between Britain and the Netherlands will allow the accused to be handed
over to the custody of a Scottish court in the Netherlands at the former
Kamp Zeist air base where they will be held in detention until the trial
begins. Dr Jim Swire, of the British relatives' group, UK Families Flight
103, intends to go to the small Dutch town of Zeist this weekend to meet
the mayor and establish contact.
His journey is unrelated to Mr Annan's
activities in north Africa. He said: "I am encouraged by Kofi Annan's involvement.
I would hope to see the suspects handed over within weeks, but I would
not expect to hear about it until afterwards."
A spokesman for the Foreign Office
said that the Government did not know if Col Gaddafi was intending to hand
the suspects over to Mr Annan. "We are in close touch with the UN secretary
general over Lockerbie. The issue is very firmly with the Libyan leadership."
Background information:
For
more information on the change of law team, change of venue opinion, Gaddafis
TV-interview with CNN etc. go to the NEWS ARCHIVE
Annan Prepares To Fly To Libya On
Lockerbie Case
Dec 04, 1998 TUNIS, Tunisia (Reuters)
- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
prepared Friday to fly to Libya to meet Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and try
to set in train the trial of two Libyan suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie
bombing.
``I
will leave Saturday morning for Libya for discussions with Colonel Muammar
Gaddafi. I am going to try to settle this problem once and for all,'' Annan
told reporters after meeting Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
Thursday. News of the trip brought optimism from the United States and
Britain, although what diplomats saw as Gaddafi's unpredictably tempered
this with caution. A senior U.S. official said Washington hoped the meetings
would result in the handover of the two suspects.
But Ambassador
Nancy Soderberg, speaking for the U.S. mission to the United
Nations, said she did not know what the outcome of Annan's session with
Gaddafi would be and how firm his assurances were from Tripoli. ``We would
expect a meeting between the secretary-general and Libyan officials to
produce a handover of the suspects,'' Soderberg said. ``We expect that
to be the purpose of his travel to Libya.''
Annan is due to fly to Sirte, a coastal
city 400 km (250 miles) east of the Libyan capital, where Gaddafi usually
entertains his guests, after the Security Council sanctions committee approved
a waiver for the trip, diplomats said. Britain welcomed Annan's announcement
that he would visit Libya. But it made clear that a U.S.-British plan to
try the Libyan suspects before a special court of Scottish judges in the
Netherlands was non-negotiable.
``Naturally we welcome efforts to
implement the U.N. Security Council resolution (on handing over the suspects).
We hope the secretary-general can persuade Gaddafi to reply promptly so
justice can be done,'' said a British Foreign Office spokesman. ``Kofi
Annan fully recognizes that the U.S.-British plan is non-negotiable...the
best we can hope for from Saturday's meeting is official notification that
Gaddafi is prepared to hand over the suspects.''
Western diplomats had said Annan
would not go to Libya unless he had been assured Gaddafi had agreed to
surrender the suspects for trial. But in private, British officials are
reluctant to express optimism about Annan's chances of success. ``It is
no use trying to figure out what could happen. It is very hard to predict
what Gaddafi might do,'' one said.
Asked if a deal on the surrender
of the two suspects was ready, a diplomat told Reuters: ``This is what
he hopes to get. He (Annan) appears optimistic.'' Diplomats said that chances
had improved after weeks of talks with Libyan lawyers on the surrender
of the two suspects. ``It's not a done deal yet, but it's close,'' said
one diplomat who declined to be identified.
A Libyan statement denied any about-turn
by Gaddafi. ``Libya has already announced its acceptance of putting its
two nationals on trial at a court in the Netherlands. It has expressed
its willingness to enter into negotiations with the concerned parties either
directly or through the U.N. secretary -general over arrangements for this
trial,'' said the statement carried by the official JANA news agency on
Thursday. It said Libya would seek ``the necessary guarantees for the Libyan
suspects and reserved its right to ask for any clarification.''
Listen
to BBC's Nick Pelham: Deal has already been reached
BBC'
Andrew Cassell: line-up of present issue
BBC's
Barbara Platt: line-up of present issue
...You
need Real Audio Player to listen to those sound files
In Holland, the Dutch foreign ministry
confirmed last night that the facility for thetrial, at the Camp Zeist
air base near Utrecht, was ready to receive the Libyans and the massive
security operation and media circus that will follow them.
Hans Corell,
the UN's chief legal adviser, has been in close contact with the Dutch
authorities to make final preparations for a handover. Dutch officials
said the men could be in Scottish custody 48 hours after landing in the
Netherlands. Technical arrangements are understood to have been completed.
Mr Correll is due in The Hague this weekend.
The BBC's UN correspondent says after
years of stalemate there is some optimism that a solution may at last be
in sight. Fred Echkhard, spokesman for Mr Annan, told the BBC that the
UN is "something of a middle man in this". He went on: "The lawyers
have had several weeks of discussion but there are still one or two outstanding
issues. The Secretary-General feels if he can speak to Colonel Gaddafi
face to face, perhaps he can break the ice - at least he has to try."
Listen
to BBC's correspondent Fred Eckhard
Privately, UN officials say most
of the legal details have now been resolved and that arrangements are in
place for the two suspects to be transported to the Netherlands if the
meeting is successful.
But Mr Annan's powers of persuasion
will be his only available tool as the US and Britain have made clear that
negotiations over issues of substance, including the need for the two men
to serve their sentences in Scotland if found guilty, are out of the question.
Reactions from Pan Am 103-relatives:
Some survivors of the victims expressed
optimism. But Daniel Cohen of Cape
May, N.J., who lost his 20-year-old daughter Theodora, said
Libya's leader can still pull out the
rug from under Annan. "My feeling is that if Kofi Annan doesn't come out
of Libya with these guys, his trip has been a failure," he said. "All it
will have done is hand Khadafy a propaganda victory."
Aphrodite
Tsairis, of Franklin Lakes, N.J., whose daughter, Alexia, died
in the Lockerbie crash, said she was "cautiously optimistic" about the
meeting. But "it's very hard to know what Gadhafi is thinking."
But Dr Jim
Swire, whose daughter was killed in the plane crash and has
been leading the case for British families, said he was very positive about
Saturday's meeting:
"We don't know when it will
happen, but there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that the handover
will happen. We are confident that in a court under the Scottish legal
system, justice will be served."
Listen
to dr. Jim Swire speaking about Annan's journey to Libya
George Williams
from Victims
of Pan Am 103 Inc, the biggest American organization for the relatives,
said on a CNN interview on the 4th of December, when asked about his opinion
of mr. Annan's efforts:
"I agree and we agree that this is
the proper procedure to allow things to go along and take a natural, legal
course. We are not looking to get innocent civilians killed by bombing
or anything like that. We feel this is a proper -- up to this point --
beyond this point -- it has been 10 years and my organization and all the
families of the victims of Pan Am 103 are getting fed up to here, and we
will be pushing our Congress and our Congress listens to us. They have
done everything we have asked them to do. "
Read the
full transcript of CNN's interview with mr. Williams HERE
Plane
Waiting In Italy For Lockerbie Suspects ?
04/12/1998
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - If Libya
decides to surrender the two men accused of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing,
the United Nations has made arrangements to fly them to the Netherlands
within 24 hours, diplomats said Friday. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who
plans to go to Libya Saturday, will not be transporting the two suspects
in his plane. Instead an aircraft is waiting in Italy ready to fly to Tripoli
and bring the two to the Netherlands, the envoys said.
``Apparently there is a plane waiting
to go,'' said a State Department official in Washington.
He would not give any details but
diplomats said arrangements had been made with Italy, the former colonial
power in Libya, which has relatively good ties with Muammar Gaddafi's government
as well as the United States and Britain. Annan, who is meeting the Libyan
leader and other officials at the Libyan coastal town of Sirte, hopes Tripoli
will set a date for their surrender, diplomats said.
He has been authorized by the Security
Council in an August resolution to arrange for their transfer for trial
but not negotiate any further terms. His legal counsel Hans Corell has
also fielded Libyan queries to the U.S. and Britain about arrangements
for a prospective trial. ``The secretary-general is not negotiating. He
is going there to help solve this long-standing impasse on the arrangements
for the safe transfer of the two accused to the Netherlands,'' U.N. spokesman
Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.
For Annan, the trip presents considerable
risks if Libya does not set a date for the release of the two men or attempts
to negotiate terms he is not empowered to settle. U.S. and British officials
said he had not informed them about what he expects the outcome to be.
But Ambassador Nancy Soderberg of the
U.S. mission to the United Nations, said Washington expects no less than
the surrender of the suspects. A US State Department official, speaking
on condition of anonymity, said: ``We have no idea what Gaddafi will do.''
``He's very unpredictable. They may
use him (Annan) to try to make some changes to the U.S. proposals. He (Gaddafi)
may open that door and then we'll have to see what's behind the door,''
he said. The official recalled Annan's trip to Iraq in February that averted
war. But promises made then to cooperate with U.N. arms inspectors crumbled
in August and are now being revived. At the same time some diplomats speculated
that Gaddafi may be looking to Annan to provide a face-saving way for him
to give in, particularly on his insistence the two should not be imprisoned
in Scotland if convicted, an issue the United States and Britain say is
not negotiable.
Libya is also anxious to see the
end of six-year old U.N. sanctions, which the Security Council voted to
suspend automatically once the two arrived in the Netherlands.
Libya's News Agency and UN playing
down Lockerbie hope
04/12/1998 A day before a
visit by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the official
Libyan news agency Jana said Libya's
leader Colonel Gaddafi had no power to sign any deal. "Colonel Gaddafi
is neither head of state nor head of government, nor foreign minister,
which completely rules out any possibility of his reaching any accord,"
Jana said.
The Green Book by Muammar Gaddafi
- it explains some of the present political situation of Libya. Read it,
but remember it is NOT the Libyan constitution, nor a guidebook of actual
Libyan politics.
About the
goals of the present political system in Libya
The Libyan constitutional
statement (together with the Holy Quran) is the practical basis for Libya's
political system today
The Libyan Constitution
The UN has also played down expectations
of a concrete deal over the transfer of two Libyans accused of blowing
up the Pan-Am airliner over Scotland 10 years ago. UN spokesman Fred
Eckhard warned there was no guarantee that Mr Annan would persuade Colonel
Gaddafi, to release the two men for trial in return for the suspension
of sanctions. He said: "We're going to Libya without a conviction that
we will succeed.
However, Reuters quoted a senior
North African diplomat as saying that Mr Annan may have received assurances
that a deal could be achieved. "There were one or two outstanding points,
and if Mr Annan decided to go ahead with the trip to Libya that means that
he is hopeful they will be overcome," he said. North
Africa correspondent Heba Saleh says it seems the Libyan authorities
are now trying to delay a final decision.
Mr Annan said in Tunisia on Friday
that he hoped to settle the case "once and for all". He is trying to end
delays caused by Libyan requests for clarifications on how the trial would
be conducted and where any sentences would be served. The key sticking
point remains over where the two, if found guilty, would serve their sentences.
Libya has said it is not prepared for them to be jailed in Scotland.
On Wednesday Mr Annan said his officials
had made good progress on negotiating the extradition of the two Libyans.
Correspondents say Mr Annan is not empowered to negotiate any new terms
beyond how the two will be transported to the Netherlands for trial.
U.S. says Gaddafi has power to act
on Lockerbie
WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The
United States dismissed a statement from Libya on Friday that its leader,
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, did not have authority to reach agreement to extradite
two Libyans suspected of the Lockerbie bombing. ``I think that it
would surprise most observers if it were alleged that Mr Gaddafi did not
wield decision-making authority in Libya,'' US
State Department spokesman James Foley told a news conference.
He was speaking as U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan prepared to meet Gaddafi in Libya on Saturday amid hopes Annan
could secure a commitment for the two men to be flown to face trial for
the bombing in the Netherlands. Foley said it was not clear whether
Annan's visit would succeed. ``As I understand it, the outcome of the visit
was not clear. It hasn't taken place yet,'' he said.
He said even if the suspects were
handed over, prompting the lifting of United Nations sanctions imposed
in 1992, this would not necessarily improve U.S. relations with the North
African state. ``Certainly our problems with the Libyan regime are
manifold, and moving down that road toward a different relationship would
require a radically different approach to all kinds of issues on the part
of the Libyan government,'' Foley said.
The official Libyan news agency JANA
said earlier on Friday Gaddafi had no official position except ``leader
of the revolution.'' ``Those who believe that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi might
sign an agreement with the U.N. secretary general or anyone else ignore
totally (the nature) of the people's power in Libya,'' it said. It said
the only body able to decide on foreign or internal policy matters was
the Libyan people through its ``popular committees.'' This comment suggested
any decision on the suspects had to be formally approved by some 500 grassroots
committees made up of Libyan citizens all around the country, before being
approved by the General People's Congress, or parliament.
Foley said: ``Regardless of the decision-making
process, Libya is under international obligations. It's not a question
of discretion or decisions, but compliance with the (U.N.) Security Council
resolutions.'' He stressed that Annan did not have the authority
to negotiate with Gaddafi, but only to ``assist in the arrangements for
the physical transfer of the suspects to the Netherlands.''
``So in this context, we would expect
a meeting between the secretary-general and Libyan officials to advance
the handover of the
suspects.'' Washington imposed
unilateral sanctions in 1986, barring U.S. purchase of Libyan oil, freezing
Libyan assets in the United States and banning Americans from travelling
to Libya. U.S. officials say Libya has to fulfil a list of conditions
before these are lifted. It must convince the United States it is not harbouring,
paying or providing weapons to terrorists groups and sign international
chemical, biological and nuclear conventions.
Update
on Kofi Annan's journey to Libya
05/12/1998 Mr. Kofi Annan
has arrived in Libya and is meeting with Libyan officials. Gaddafis is
currently unavailable. Annan had started talks with Libyan Foreign Affairs
Minister Omar Mustapha al-Montasser and U.N. envoy Abuzed Omar Dorda. In
New York, a U.N. spokesman confirmed that Annan met Montasser but he did
not know whether he would meet Gaddafi.
Annan
left the Libyan capital Tripoli about 10 a.m. (0800 GMT), positive that
he would meet Gaddafi but uncertain on the outcome. ``This will be our
first encounter,'' he said. ``I have no idea what sort of atmosphere it's
going to be, what he is like, how he reacts. So it's going to be an interesting
meeting. ``Obviously, this is going to be a very difficult discussion.
It is an issue that has persisted for 10 years.'' Kofi Annan was expected
back in Tunis already late afternoon, but has decided to wait for Gaddafi.
South African President Nelson
Mandela telephoned Gadhafi to discuss the issue hours before
Annan arrived in Tripoli, Libya's state-run radio reported. The radio said
Mandela reiterated his country's "solidarity and support to Libya in its
fair stand" in the Lockerbie affair.
The General People's Congress, Libya's
top legislative and executive body that is to formally endorse any decision
on the Lockerbie issue, has been summoned for Tuesday, Libyan state radio
reported on Saturday. The announcement was made a few hours after the arrival
in Libya of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Annan's 'fruitful' meeting
BBC
- Scot News - PA Press -AFP -Reuters
06/12/1998 UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan has returned to Tripoli after meeting Colonel Gadaffi, saying
their talks had been fruitful and positive but did not say whether there
had been a breakthrough that might lead to the trial of the Lockerbie suspects.
Only a handful of close aides had accompanied Mr Annan, with the rest of
his official party, including spokesman Fred Eckhard, remaining in the
coastal hideaway of Sitre.
UN
officials in New York said that Mr Annan had gone to meet the Libyan leader
at an unknown desert location. The meeting was scheduled for Saturday afternoon
at a secret location in the eastern Libyan city of Surt. But Libya's
official news agency, Jana, says Colonel Gaddafi was in a desert camp outside
the region and that talks instead took place between Mr Annan and the Libyan
foreign minister.
View the CNN transcript of Kofi Annan's meeting
with Gaddafi
Listen
to BBC's John Simpson summing up the facts
It now seems that the delay has proved
fruitful although UN officials have been playing down any expectations
of a big breakthrough in the discussions seeking a way of resolving the
deadlock on the handover of two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
``They need to get the congress and
the people involved,'' Annan said,
referring to Libya's parliament, the General People's Congress. "But Libya
has confirmed its seriousness and eadiness to find a solution to the Lockerbie
problem," he said. "Libya has also agreed to a trial in a third country
and believes that it ought to be possible to find answers to all other
outstanding issues relating to this matter. It will require some time but
not an inordinate amount."
``I
hope that their own internal discussions on an issue that is that sensitive
and had gone on for so long will be concluded fairly shortly,'' Annan told
reporters on the plane that flew him back to the Tunisian resort island
of Djerba Saturday night. ``They are serious and will require some
time...So I hope that in the not-too-distant future we will be able to
give the families some good news and that they can put this issue behind
them,'' he added. Earlier in Libya, he had told reporters that ``considerable
progress'' was made toward resolving the dispute. The 60-year-old Annan
said he was tired after arriving back in Djerba. Annan was due to fly to
Abu Dhabi in the Gulf later Sunday.
Asked on the flight from Tripoli
to Djerba whether the defendants might be surrendered by the end of the
year, Annan replied, ``Expect, believe, trust, want.'' Commenting on the
health of the Libyan leader, who broke his hip in July, Annan said: "He
seems to be mending well. He was in good spirits and he seems to have a
good grasp of what's happening around."
BBC
sound file of Kofi Annan's statement after meeting Gaddafi
United
Nation's information video-file about Annan's visit
Website of the UN General Secretary
Information office with latest highlights, statements,
press releases and info
Libya's foreign minister, Omar
Mustapha al-Montasser, said there would be ``positive results
very soon'' to the long-festering dispute over Tripoli's refusal to relinquish
the two suspects for trial abroad. Asked if Montasser had confirmed he
would make such a recommendation, Annan told reporters on his plane: ``Whether
he will be able to do it Tuesday or would require a bit more time, I don't
know.''
Reactions over the outcome of Annan's meeting
In Washington, US State Department
spokesman James Foley said: ''We are
disappointed that Libya is still not in compliance with the Security Council
resolutions. Compliance means turnover of the two suspects for trial.''
Foley said Washington had seen reports out of Tripoli but was waiting to
hear directly from Annan. ``This has gone on for far too long,'' he said,
noting that the 10th anniversary of the tragedy was fast approaching.
A British Foreign
Office spokesman told Reuters in London: ''We are waiting to hear
a report from the U.N. secretary-general before commenting.''
Later the British Foreign Secretary,
Robin Cook, has said he's encouraged
by the talks that the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has
had in Libya. In a BBC interview, Mr Cook said it was a possibility but
not a certainty that the two suspects could be facing trial by the time
of the tenth anniversary of the bombing at the end of the month.Cook said
he hoped very much the two suspects would be handed over for trial in the
Netherlands before the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the Pan Am airliner
on December 21. ``It is certainly a possibility, it is by no means a certainty,''
he said. ``I am encouraged that the Libyans are taking this as seriously
as we are.''
"Kofi Annan has completed his objective
which was to explain clearly to Colonel Gaddafi in person the nature of
the offer and that we're serious about it - that its not a political trick.
"He assured me this morning that he has made it very clear to Colonel Gaddafi
that there is no point holding out for agreement for imprisonment somewhere
other than Scotland, " he told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme.
In a UN statement released shortly
after Mr Annan's arrival in Abu Dhabi, Mr Annan told US Secretary
of State Mrs Albright: "We are well on the way to resolving
the problem." He said the Libyan Government had their own way of consulting
the people and making their decision.
Al-Zahf al-Akhdar, a
Libyan newspaper, said on Sunday the United States wanted to
impose its will on Libya. "The issue here is not Lockerbie, but one
of imposing on free countries. America's main interest is not the Pan Am
victims and their families but Libya escaping from its control."
The paper said America was used to pursuing its own interests by pressure.
"It did not care about the majority of countries which stood by Libya and
praised its civilised way of dealing with problems," it added.
Libya on Sunday poured cold water
over Western hopes for a handover of the Lockerbie suspects before the
10th anniversary of the bombing of an American airliner over Scotland on
December 21, 1988.
``The Lockerbie problem is an invented
and complicated one and it is not logical and reasonable to solve it under
the pressure of what is called the 10th anniversary of the Pan Am accident,''
wrote the diplomatic editor of the official news agency
JANA. ``Kofi Annan did not hold talks with the brother leader
of the revolution. He merely went to see him where he was in the Libyan
desert, to salute him and
greet him on his recovery,'' he said.
Listen
to Robin Cooks statement about the meeting between Annan and Gaddafi
Dr Jim Swire,
whose daughter was killed in the plane crash and has been leading the case
for British families, said he was very positive about Saturday's meeting.
"Unless this trial is allowed to take place there is no way in which Libya
will be able to escape the implication that she was guilty," he said.
Dr Jim Swire, spokesman for the British
families who lost relations at Lockerbie, said he was delighted Mr Annan
and Colonel Gaddafi had met, adding that , some of the Libyan complaints
over the issue were justified. He continued: "The main thing is that the
two men did meet because Gaddafi is busy saying he fears a trick and that
he also feels that his country has been left out of negotiations about
the trial, which is true, they have. What he needs, I think, is reassurance
that this really is an offer of a fair trial and I can't think of anyone
better than Kofi Annan to give that reassurance." Dr Swire also congratulated
Mr Cook on his role in the negotiations, hailing him as "one of the architects
of a very brave and imaginative resolution of the problem".
Asked about the prospects for a deal
before the anniversary of the disaster, in which he lost his daughter Flora,
he said: "It would be terrific if there were, but I don't think we should
set our hopes on that. "The more that Britain and the US say something
must happen by the tenth anniversary, the more it makes people dig their
toes in. Personally, I think it's unlikely."
A spokesman for the families of American
victims, George Williams, was also
optimistic about the prospect of a trial despite state department comments:
"Usually a world leader won't go somewhere unless he knows he's coming
away with something concrete - so I believe we'll hear something in a short
period of time.
Listen
and view to BBC's Stephen Gibbs reporting
Waiting for the General People's Congress
BBC
- The Scotsman -AFP -Reuters
The failure
to agree a deal seems to be due to Col Gaddafi's insistence on putting
it before Libya's parliament, the General People's Congress, which will
meet for five days this week.
Robert Black,
a professor of Scots law at Edinburgh University, said: "I think it's going
to happen. The really good sign is that the most senior of the people's
committees is due to meet on Tuesday when it was not originally scheduled.
There would not be a special meeting if there was not something special
to decide."
In his own meetings with Col Gaddafi,
Prof Black said he had been told Libya was "run by the people" and decisions
needed their consent. "But in reality, if Gaddafi wants it to happen it
would be most unlikely that the people's congress would go against him,"
he said.
Tam Dalyell,
the MP for Linlithgow, also claimed it was unrealistic to have expected
to settle the handover of the suspects "once and for all" at the weekend
and remained optimistic of an imminent breakthrough. "Under the Libyan
system, Gaddafi had to go to the people's congress - he could have done
nothing else. Gaddafi is not all-powerful, it's not a question of a dictator,
like in Iraq," he said.
One Libyan official said the issue
was likely to require a long parliamentary debate. "Normally a debate in
the General People's Congress takes three to ten days, depending on what
foreign or domestic issues are on the agenda," he said. However, the diplomatic
editor for Libya's official news agency, JANA, poured cold water on British
hopes, claiming that the dispute could not be settled in time for the anniversary.
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Come
and join the discussion: Should the US and the UK have agreed to an international
trial in the Netherlands ?
The
Scottish daily newspaper THE SCOTSMAN broke the news as the first media:
after mysterious, closed talks between Libyan lawyers and UN officials
at the UN Headquarter in New York, the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan
was to visit Libya. His goal was to attempt to break the deadlock of a
possible transfer of the two Libyan suspcts to attend trial in the Netherlands.