AL-AHRAM WEEKLY

 
 
 

End of an impasse?

By Rasha Saad
Issue: 392
Date: 27 August - 2 September 1998
The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would suspend UN sanctions against Libya as soon as two Libyan suspects in the 1988 Pan Am bombing arrive in the Netherlands for trial. 
  The Council was expected to continue discussions on the US-British proposal yesterday and could adopt the resolution before the week is out. 
  According to the draft, the council would consider additional sanctions if Libya does not promptly turn over Abdel-Basset Al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah for trial. 
  Current sanctions, in force since 1992, include an air embargo and curbs on arms sales and on certain financial and travel activities. 
  The draft circulated on Tuesday as the council began preliminary consultations on a deal to try the two suspects in the Netherlands, using Scottish judges and Scottish law. 
  US and British officials announced their proposal on Monday in a bid to end a 10-year impasse over the bombing, which killed 259 people aboard Pan Am flight 103, and 11 people on the ground at Lockerbie, Scotland. 
  The Council must endorse the deal because previous UN resolutions stipulated that the trial take place only in the United States or the United Kingdom. Libya has refused to turn over the two suspects, fearing they would not get a fair trial in either country. 
  The resolution also says that sanctions will only be suspended once Libya satisfies a French investigation into the bombing of UTA flight 772, which exploded over the Niger Desert on 19 September 1989, killing all 170 passengers and crew on board. 
  In a letter in January to the Security Council, Libyan Foreign Minister Omar Al-Muntasser said his government would agree to a trial by Scottish judges in accordance with Scottish law. He specified that the trial should be at the International Court of Justice at the Hague in the Netherlands. The US-British deal makes no mention of the Hague, saying only that the trial would be in the Netherlands. 
  Deputy US Ambassador Peter Burleigh said on Tuesday that he hoped the Council would take action on the resolution "in the next day or two." 
  Libya's government-run television said on Tuesday that experts and officials were meeting to discuss the proposals and "a detailed statement about this will be issued" within 24 hours. 
  Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid said on Tuesday he was confident that Libya would accept the US-British offer. "The American-British offer constitutes acceptance of the Arab and Libyan position," he said. 
  President Hosni Mubarak's political adviser, Osama El-Baz, travelled to Libya yesterday for consultations with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The visit followed a telephone conversation between Mubarak and Gaddafi Tuesday. 
  Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told reporters the offer from the United States and Britain was a "definite improvement" over their previous stance. 
  "The offer is more flexible than earlier ones and fulfills one of Libya's demands for a trial in a third country," Moussa said. "We hope the offer will lead to a lifting of the sanctions." 
  On Monday US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the offer is a "take it or leave it proposition. It is not subject to negotiation or change, nor should it be subject to additional foot-dragging or delay." 
  But Ibrahim Legwell, head of the defence team of the two suspects, told Al-Ahram Weekly in a telephone interview from his office in Tripoli that his team "does not bow to pressure and insists on a fair trial that guarantees the rights of my clients". 
  Legwell declared that it is the defence team, which includes European and American legal experts, that has the authority to accept or reject the US-British offer. "Although Libyan officials may wish to deal with the matter with greater flexibility, it is the defence team alone that can decide whether to accept the proposal or not," he said. 
  Legwell explained that preconditions for a fair trial include the guaranteed safety of the two suspects during and after the trial. He also said that only the judges and the defence lawyers should be allowed to communicate with the suspects "to spare them any pressure by the American or British intelligence." 
  Under the plan, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be asked to help Libya "with the physical arrangements for the transfer of the two accused from Libya direct to the Netherlands".