U.N. sanctions body asks about Libya flight 
Libyan Foreign Minister Omar Mustafa Muntasser today asked all countries of the world to refuse any to implement the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on Libya. He said the measures were proven to be invalid within the judgment of the International Court of Justice, which has been examining the Lockerbie issue and will rule on the dispute between Libya and the UK and US. He said Libya had expressed its willingness and flexibility to respond the resolutions of the UN Security Council, including a just and sincere solution for the issue.He also expressed his hope that Libya would attain more support from peace-loving countries in order to reach a solution that will lift the sanctions from Libya. (Jamahiriya News Agency / JANA)
4/3/98 Libya's international cooperation and foreign relations committee has asserted that losses inflicted on its industry and mineral sectors have reached US $5 billion since UN sanctions were imposed on Libya in 1992.
In an official report, the committee said production lines came to a halt in many factories due to shortages in necessary raw materials, adding that production costs increased and several factories in Libya stopped production because of the difficulty to get letters of credit from foreign banks.
The report indicated that the Libyan companies were obliged to import needed supplies through a third partner, a matter which led to a 15% increase in commodity prices. A similar report published in February said the Libyan air transport sector has lost US $378 million as a result of the embargo.
April 2, 1998; UNITED NATIONS -- Libya's U.N. mission has told families of victims of Pan Am 103 that the United States and Britain are all that stand in the way of determining who blew up the plane over Scotland nine years ago.
In letters to the victims' families, the Libyans cited last month's Security Council debate, in which Arab and African nations urged the council to accept Col. Moammar Gadhafi's offer to try two Libyan suspects in a neutral country.
``You must have noted that the overwhelming majority called on the U.S. and U.K. to accept a solution to the problem by holding the trial in a neutral country,'' the Libyans said in the letter. ``The families of the victims are not only victims of the Pan Am tragedy,'' the letter said. ``They are also victims of the politicians in the U.S. and the U.K. and their aims.''
Libya pointed out that the Americans and British were more interested in maintaining sanctions against Libya than in determining who was responsible for the bombing, which killed 270 people. The letter repeated Libya's claims that it had nothing to do with the bombing. ``Justice is what you want,'' the Libyan letter said. ``Justice is what we want.'' Libya cited comments made by British physician Jim Swire, who told reporters during the March 20 debate that U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson had been ``extremely economical with the truth'' when he said the suspects could receive a fair trial in Scotland or the United States.
Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, has urged the British government to ``consider the possibility of compromise'' and accept the Libyan offer. Some of the American families, however, have insisted that the United States and Britain stand firm in demanding that Libya surrender the suspects for trial before an American or Scottish court.
Read the full letter to the victim´s relatives from Libyas UN mission in New York
2/4/1998 - JANA Dr. Ahmed Fathi Surrur head of the Egyptian Council of the people and head of Arab parliamentary Union renewed his affirmation that the unjust measures imposed on Great Jamahiriya are false, after the decision of the International Court of Justice. Surrur, who was speaking the day before yesterday in front of the Egyptian association for lawyers, attacked the policy of America, making it clear that America utilizes the Security Council to frighten people.
THE HAGUE, 1 April (ICJ) -- The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, fixed 30 December as the time limit for the filing of the Counter-Memorials of the United Kingdom and of the United States in the cases concerning the aerial incident at Lockerbie brought against them by Libya.
The Court made this decision by way of Orders dated 30 March 1998, taking into account the views of the Parties.
In two separate Judgments handed down on 27 February, the Court declared that it had jurisdiction to deal with the merits of the disputes between Libya and the United Kingdom, and between Libya and the United States. It based its jurisdiction on article 14, paragraph 1, of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation signed in Montreal on 23 September 1971, concerning the settlement of disputes on the interpretation or application of the provisions of that Convention. The Court also found the Libyan claims admissible and stated that it was not appropriate, at this stage of the proceedings, to make a decision on the arguments of the United Kingdom and the United States that resolutions of the United Nations Security Council have rendered these claims without object.
Press here to update your memory about the ICJ case and verdict from 27/2/1998
Any contentious proceedings before the Court consist of two parts: written and oral. During the written phase, written pleadings are exchanged. In both the abovementioned cases, the Applicant (Libya) has already filed a Memorial on the merits, and, consequently, the Court had to fix a time limit for the filing of Counter-Memorials by the Respondents (the United Kingdom and the United States). Upon the closure of the written proceedings, hearings are organized. It is only after these that the Court starts considering its Judgment on the merits.
Read the official press release from the International Court of Justice
U.N. sanctions body asks about Libya flight UNITED NATIONS, April 1 ) - The U.N. Libya sanctions committee asked its chairman on Wednesday to look into reports that a Libyan airliner violated sanctions last Sunday by flying pilgrims from Libya to Saudi Arabia. The chairman, ambassador Danilo Turk of Slovenia, will send letters to the U.N. missions of Libya, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, through whose airspace the plane was reported to have flown, a committee source said after a closed-door meeting.
DUBAI, March 29 - A Libyan plane carrying 105 Libyan Moslems bound for Mecca arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, a Libyan source said. Flights from Libya are banned since 1992 as part of U.N. sanctions after the Lockerbie aircraft bombing. It is the third year Libya has defied U.N. sanctions with haj flights.
The source said the plane flew from Tripoli to Jeddah, which is close to the holy sites where Moslems make their annual haj pilgrimage. Libya has had special permission from the U.N. sanctions committee since 1995 to fly its pilgrims to Mecca aboard Egypt Air airliners. But Tripoli-based diplomats had previously said the Libyan government this year renounced the Egypt Air deal and decided to transport its 10,000 or so pilgrims by ship. A source at the Libyan consulate in Jeddah said the Libyan government had hired about 10 ships this year to bring the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia's interior minister said on Monday the U.N. Security Council, not Saudi Arabia, was responsible for a Libyan flight which brought pilgrims to the kingdom in defiance of U.N. sanctions. Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz told a news conference in Mecca that the airliner flew to Jeddah, refuelled and then returned to Libya.
Prince Nayef said Saudi authorities received the pilgrims and provided them with all facilities it accords to others. ``The responsibility for the Libyan airliner's violation of the embargo is that of the Security Council and not Saudi authorities,'' he said without elaborating.
CAPE TOWN, March 27 South African President Nelson Mandela, after talks with U.S. President Bill Clinton, on Friday reaffirmed his friendship with Libya and Iran and said his critics could ``jump in a pool.''
In opening remarks at a joint news conference with Clinton, Mandela said he had invited leaders of the three countries including ``brother Gaddafi'' to visit South Africa.
President Mandela elaborated his view in a special interview with correspondent Wolf Blitzer aired at CNN Monday March 29, 1998 - 1:11 p.m. ET. Here is a copy of the original transcript, provided by CNN:
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March 26, 1998 HARARE, Zimbabwe (PANA) - The Organization of African Unity (OAU) has expressed concern at the impasse between Libya, the United States and Britain over the Lockerbie dispute and called on the United Nations Security Council to speedily find a solution to the crisis.
In a letter to the President of the Security Council, Abdoulie Momodou Sallah, Zimbabwean foreign minister and chairman of the OAU committee on the Lockerbie issue, Stan Mudenge, said the council should lift the sanctions imposed on Libya. He urged the security council to consider the three options submitted to it jointly by the OAU and the League of Arab States.
The options are to hold the trial of the suspects in a third and neutral country to be determined by the Security Council, have the suspects tried by Scottish judges in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in accordance with Scottish law or establish a special criminal tribunal at the ICJ headquarters in the Hague to try the suspects. The dispute between the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and United States of America and the United Kingdom was again discussed by the 67th ordinary session of the council of ministers of the OAU held in addis ababa from 25 to 28 February 1998, read part of Mudenge's letter dated March 5, 1998.
The council of ministers reiterated its position on the matter and strongly supported the call by the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for the convening of an open session of the UN Security Council under article 31 of the UN charter that would take place in March 1998. The council of ministers further requested me to write and convey the concerns of our organisation and its keen interest in an early and peaceful solution to the crisis, Mudenge said.
GENEVA, 25 March (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights continued this morning its consideration of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development.
According to Omar Mustapha El Muntasser, Secretary-General of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison of Libya, the right of the Libyan people to development was hampered by the United Nations embargo on the country. He said the greatest danger to international peace and security was the use by the United States of the authority of the Security Council in an illegal manner to control the decision-making centres of the United Nations.
OMAR MUSTAPHA EL MUNTASSER, Secretary of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation of Libya, said his country had a policy based on cooperation for integration in order to achieve development, peace and stability. Seven African countries had already established a consortium of Saharan and Sahelian States with the objective of realizing geographic, human, economic and cultural integration. The purpose was to counter the prevalence of factors of tension which did not serve the interest of any of those countries.
He said that seven years ago, the United States and United Kingdom accused two Libyan citizens of participating in the aerial catastrophe over the village of Lockerbie in Scotland. The matter was based on doubts; there had been no precise judiciary inquiry in the light of which the relationship of those two citizens to the accident could be proved or disproved. They were accused and indicted before being heard or brought to a court of justice. The two States brought the accusation and the indictment before the Security Council, getting it to adopt resolution 731 (1992). Since the start, the two States had wanted to give the facts a political dimension, rather than keeping them within their specific legal framework. Libya's attitude towards the "Lockerbie crisis" was characterized by its cooperative attitude and response to the Council resolution.
Mr. Muntasser said the greatest violation of the United Nations Charter had been committed by the United States and the United Kingdom in pushing the Council to adopt another resolution, 748 (1992), on the basis of which the provisions of Chapter VII had been applied to Libya. But the case had nothing to do with the Chapter: Libya had not invaded, attacked or annexed forcibly the territory of another country. The provisions of that Chapter of the Charter applied when there was a threat to international peace and security.
The Libyan people, because of the embargo, the coercive measures, the economic boycott and the freezing of assets applied to the country, were obstructed from the full enjoyment of the rights related to development, he continued. They could not obtain medical care; many had died as a result of a lack of vaccines; their right to travel freely was curtailed; and their right to practice their religion had first to be subjected to approval from the Security Council.
The greatest danger to international peace and security in this very critical period of the history of the United Nations, he continued, was the United States' use of the authority of the Security Council in an illegal manner to control the decision-making centres of the United Nations in the service of its strategic objectives.
CAIRO, March 25 - Arab foreign ministers early Wednesday called on the UN Security Council to suspend sanctions on Libya as they prepared to wrap up two days of discussions marked by sharp criticism of Israeli policies. The appeal concerning Libya was adopted overnight by the ministerial council of the 22-member Arab League and specifically asks the Security Council to freeze the sanctions pending a verdict from the world court.
``The World Court ruling necessitates that the Security Council reconsider the sanctions on Libya and we demand an immediate halt to actions against Libya,'' the foreign ministers' statement said.
"The Arab League council requests the Security Council to immediately suspend the measures taken in line with UN resolutions 748 and 883 on Libya,"
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague ruled last month that it had jurisdiction to hear Tripoli's lawsuit claiming the right to refuse to extradite the Libyan suspects to Britain or the United States.
Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel Meguid on Tuesday told the inaugural session of the foreign ministers 109th conference that Arabs should freeze the sanctions until the court's verdict. He said, in the opening session of the 109 round of the Arab league board yesterday that the decision of the International Court of Justice is a proof of the legitimacy of the Libyan attitude, which was backed by the Arab league. But during debate late Tuesday Saudi Arabia and Kuwait protested against Abdel Meguid's appeal. The Saudi delegate to the conference, Abdel Rahman el-Mansuri, said such a decision could "embarrass some Arab countries" while Kuwait flatly rejected it.
After that the League's council decided to set up a committee to find a compromise solution, which agreed on the resolution adopted overnight Tuesday. The council also backed calls by Libya demanding compensation over the losses it sustained as a result of the UN sanctions and reaffirmed its solidarity with Tripoli. Last Friday, African and Arab states lined up behind Libya at the United Nations to call for the suspension of the six-year-old sanctions imposed on Libya.
23 March 1998 - Libyan News Agency JANA - The Leader of the revolution delivers a speech on the Historic Session of the Security Council. The leader of the revolution colonel Mo’hmmar Al-Gadhafi greeted in the name of all Libyan men and women the brotherly and friend countries, members of the U.N, the International Court of Justice, the Arab League, the African Unity Organization, Islamic Congress organization and neutral- countries organization for the massive support to the Arab Libyan people in its fair case in face of injustice powers represented by Britain. The leader pointed out that Libyans had achieved a victory in the political battle in the Security Council after they achieved a victory in the International Court of Justice.
That was in his speech about the session of the Security Council.
This news was taken from JANA - Libyan News Agency
21.03.1998 UNITED NATIONS (Xinhua) -- China is not in favour of sanctions against Libya, which have brought untold suffering to the Libyan people, Qin Huasun, Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, stressed on Friday. Qin made the remarks at the meeting of the Security Council, which held an open debate on the question of Libya.
Qin said the sanctions against Libya have brought suffering, especially to women and children, undermined the development of Libya, and at the same time affected economic development of third countries. Qin said China is gravely concerned about the adverse effects of the sanctions, and that facts have shown sanctions, instead of solving problems, only aggravate matters. The ambassador said China is in favour of lifting the sanctions as soon as possible, and China supports the request raised on numerous occasions by the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity to lift the sanctions against Libya at an early date.
Qin said the UN secretary-general recently sent a fact-finding mission to Libya to look into the negative impacts of the sanctions, and the mission's report is an accurate account of the situation there. China is of the view that the Security Council and its Sanctions Committee should give it a serious review and take measures to ease the situation, he said. At Friday's open debate on the question of Libya, Qin also stressed that China favours a peaceful solution to the Lockerbie case, including legal procedures.
Qin said China is opposed to terrorism in any form and is of the view that terrorists should be brought to justice. Qin said China welcomed the Security Council open meeting to consider the question of Libya, and that the council should listen to the broad range of views of member states while deliberating the issue. The ambassador said the tragic accident over Lockerbie, which resulted in the death of innocent passengers and inflicted agonizing pain on their families, should now be seen as a case deserving of settlement in a prompt and proper manner because this will be beneficial to all parties concerned. Qin said the key to the resolution of the Lockerbie case is for the parties concerned to agree, at an early date, on the venue and method of the trial of the two suspects.
China supports the three options offered by the Arab League and the OAU concerning questions about the trial, which China thinks are constructive and have reflected the flexibility of the parties concerned, Qin noted. The ambassador said China hopes that other parties will also show flexibility by responding to these proposals and move to solve the Lockerbie issue through negotiations as soon as possible.
Mar 21, 1998 UNITED NATIONS - Libya has received wide-spread support, mainly from developing countries, in its quest to have the Lockerbie bombing trial held in any country other than the United States or Britain. But sanctions imposed on Tripoli for its legally correct refusal to surrender two suspects in the 1988 mid-air bombing are expected to remain for the foreseeable future. Among the 15 U.N. Security Council members, only Bahrain advocated their immediate suspension during a marathon debate on Friday. Relatives of victims, who participated in the debate as visitors, gravely disagreed on the issue of Libya and UN-sanctions, some of them supporting Libya, some of them not.
Press here to read all about the debate at the UN Security Council 20/03/1998
Libya gets a chance to be heard about the sanctions today3/20/98 Based on the recommendations of several countries, including the Organization for Islamic Conference and the Non-aligned Movement countries, and the February 27 judgment by the International Court of Justice [ICJ] on "Lockerbie", tomorrow morning the UN Security Council will consider all aspects relating to the Lockerbie issue and the sanctions associated with it, which Libya is seeking to remove.
At the UN meeting, about 40 representatives of different countries including the Libyan foreign minister Omar al-Mountasir are expected to express their views on the matter, with many calling for the sanctions to be lifted immediately, and for the ICJ to handle the case that is before it and for all to respect any conclusions the ICJ may reach.
This is in contrast to the position taken by the US and Britain, which are opposed to the lifting of the sanctions and want the two Libyans who are suspected of involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to be extradited for trial.
The US and Britain, having veto power in the UN Security Council have stated that they will not allow any removal of the sanctions and are likely to use their position to veto any vote in the Security Council which would remove the sanctions. They will argue, as some of their preliminary statements say, that the International Court's judgment only addresses one aspect of the Lockerbie case and that the court does not have the authority to try criminal cases.
Sources close to the Libyan government told ArabicNews.com that despite the expectation that any decision taken at the UN Security Council will not be favorable to Libya. Libya is hoping to have the international community focus on this issue in light of the ICJ decision, and that countries will move unilaterally to consider the sanctions invalid, since the sanctions were voted on in the UN Security Council after the ICJ initially took the case.
The sources said Libya hopes that as a result of the ICJ decision, these countries will move forward to break the sanctions while a decision is being finalized by the ICJ. However the source said that Libya will not push hard for the issue to avoid to avoid putting France and others who support Libya's position in a bad light with the US.
The source said Libya's foreign minister will ask for the sanctions to be considered null and void and for the trial to heard in a neutral country.
March 19, 1998 TRIPOLI, Libya (PANA) - Foreign ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference have called on the United Nations Security Council to lift the embargo imposed on Libya since April 15, 1992, the Libyan News Agency, Jana, reported.
The decision came Thursday at the end of the ministers' 25th session in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The ministers described the military, diplomatic and air financial sanctions as unjust. They said they were aimed at forcing Libya to extradite for trial in the United States or Britain two Libyans accused of involvement in the bombing of a Pan Am plane in December 1988 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
The ministers reiterated the support and solidarity of the Islamic world for Libya. They reaffirmed the previous resolutions adopted at conference and those adopted by the Arab League, the Organisation of African Unity and the Non-Aligned movement on the Lockerbie affair. The statement called on the O.I.C. secretary-general to contact, immediately, regional organisations in order to carry out joint efforts at the Security Council and the U.N. Secretary-General to end this crisis.
The Islamic conference also condemned the April 1986 U.S. bombing of the the Libyan towns of Tripoli and Benghazi. It said Libya had right to compensation under a U.N. General Assemlby resolution and called on the United States to comply with the resolution. The foreign ministers also denounced the law enacted by the U.S. Congress imposing sanctions on companies doing business with nations described as terrorist. These include Iran, Iraq, Libya and Sudan.
17/3/1998 RELATIVES of victims of the Lockerbie bombing are demanding access to an open session of the United Nations on Friday, when sanctions against Libya will be discussed. Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was one of the 270 people killed in December 1988, has asked Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, to open a public gallery in the debating chamber. The gallery is normally closed for security reasons.
Swire and other relatives of the dead want to hear the manner in which the discussion is conducted. Libya has been an outcast nation since 1991 when two of its citizens were accused of the bombing and has refused to send them for trial in Scotland or America.
Swire asked a UN official about access and was told that only delegates from member countries would be admitted. "The man let slip that there was a public gallery, but no members of the public were admitted because of security," he said. "I reminded him that my daughter had died, as had 269 others. How dare they deny us access."
America's Justice Department suffered a more setback over the Lockerbie case last week when it had to pay $300,000 to Frederic Whitehurst, an FBI agent formerly attached to its forensics laboratory. Whitehurst said the American government had spread false information to discredit him after he passed on information about colleagues, casting doubt on evidence given at hundreds of trials.
One of the men denounced by Whitehurst was James T Thurman, head of the laboratory's explosives unit, who was credited with identifying the fragment of the Lockerbie bomb which pinpointed Libya, rather than Syria or Iran as first suspected, as sponsors of the atrocity. It emerged that Thurman had no scientific training other than a degree in political science. Whitehurst was suspended pending an investigation, which found that much of his criticism was well founded.
Libyan UN Mission opens wepage16/3/1998 The official webpages from the Libyan UN mission in New York are now open and available. Ambassador Dorda gives the readers/viewers of his pages a personal welcome and there are documents and press releases from Libya regarding the Lockerbie Crisis.
Press here to visit Libyan Ambassador Dorda at the UN Mission in New York
TRIPOLI, 16 march - Libyan revolutionary leader Moamer Kadhafi met Gambian President Yahya Jammeh here Monday on the second day of an official visit by the Gambian leader.
During the meeting, Jammeh said his country opposed the UN air and military embargo imposed on Libya in 1992 for its refusal to extradite to Britain or the United States two Libyan suspects in the 1988 bombing of a US passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Jammeh said he supported the decision by the International Court of Justice at The Hague to determine where the two suspects can be tried. The Gambian president also thanked Kadhafi for Libya's "material support for economic development projects" in his country.
CAIRO, March 16 - British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook called Monday for the Libyans alleged to have been behind the Lockerbie bombing to be put on trial and said "no nation can forget or put aside such an act of mass murder."
Speaking to reporters after a meeting here with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa, Cook said "we are determined to make sure that those who are alleged to have carried out this attack be brought to justice."
"On that night about 10 years ago, 270 people were murdered. No nation can forget or put aside such an act of mass murder," he added.
Mussa said the discussion on Lockerbie focused on "how to put an end to this problem and our aim of course is to put an end to the sanctions" imposed on Libya in 1992 for its refusal to hand over two Libyans accused of the 1988 bombing.
"The point is to try the people to see whether they are innocent or if they committed this," he said. "Of course Egypt is opposed to acts of terrorrism."
The United States and Britain have demanded that Tripoli hand over the two Libyan nationals accused of organizing the bombing.
Libya has demanded that they be tried in a "neutral" country and the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled recently that it can decide where the pair should be tried
March 13, 1998 LUSAKA, Zambia (PANA) - President Frederick Chiluba has expressed the hope that the sanctions againstLibya would be lifted soon so that the embattled country could start participating in free trade. Chiluba said the sanctions against that country have been there for too long and that Zambia sympathises with the people of Libya.
Chiluba assured Libya of Zambia's continued support until the sanctions are lifted. The Zambian president was speaking when he received credentials from new Libyan ambassador to Zambia, Khallifa Omar Alssawi at State House Friday. He also called for the strengthening of existing relations between Zambia and Libya for the benefit of the two countries. Chiluba further stressed the need for Africa to develop on her own terms.
He said Africa would never completely be free if it continues to be economically dependant on the international community. Speaking earlier, Alssawi said his country has experienced a lot of difficulties since the sanctions were imposed. He said in spite of Libya's compliance with Security Council resolutions on the matter, the embargo has not been lifted.
Alssawi called for support from other African countries to help lift the sanctions which he said have adversely affected the Libyan people and countries that were receiving assistance from Libya. He added that Libya continues to cherish its relations with Zambia and hoped they will be strengthened further.
What is the UN Security Council doing on the 20th of March 1998 ?March 13, 1998 NEW YORK (PANA) - Deferring to call by Libya and the group of African states and the Arab Committee at the U.N., the Security Council has scheduled a meeting for 20 March to consider Libya's dispute with Britain and the United States over the December 1988 bombing an American aircarft over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The meeting is expected to feature many contributions on the matter in the wake of the decision of the International Court of Justice on 27 February pronouncing its competence to deal with the case. In separate letters to the president of the Security Council issued here this week, the African and Arab groups underscored the urgency of the meeting to debate the issues in the dispute and seek an end to U.N. sanctions on Libya. In their letter calling for a meeting, the African group expressed their wish for the lifting or suspension of the sanctions against Libya until the dispute is finally settled.
In a similar vein, the council of ministers of the O.A.U. had, at the end of their meeting in Addis Ababa on 28 February, equally asked for a convening of an open meeting of the Security Council in March to debate the issues in dispute. The O.A.U. has previously proferred three options -- that the Libyan suspects be tried in neutral country, or be tried by Scotish judges at the International Court or by a specially established criminal tribunal at the International Court headquaters at the Hague.
Following the February court ruling, Libya itself has asked the Security Council to promptly refrain from renewing its sanctions and to ultimately rescind them since the resolutions imposing them have been rendered null and void by the decision of the International Court. But the Security Council has after the court decision renewed the sanctions for another four months.
The sanctions, which have in the past six years been renewed every four months, include an air embargo, reduced diplomatic representation, freezing of Libyan assets and ban on the export of engeneering and agricultural equipment, machines and weapons to the country. Libya has reinterated its call for a peacefull settlement of the dispute through the International Court. Britain and the U.S. have, however, insisted that the two Libyans have to be tried in either of their countries, regardless of present legal practice in internatioanl criminal law, which gives Libya the right to resist extradition of nationals for foreign prosecution.
10/3/98The secretary-general of the Arab League, Esmat Abdel Meguid, will meet with the secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, at the Arab League headquarters on March 19 during Annan's visit to Cairo.
The discussions will address the Lockerbie crisis in light of the International Court of Justice's decision to examine the Libyan complaint. The Arab League adopted the suggestion that the Libyan suspects be judged in the International Court of Justice or in another neutral country to guarantee the neutrality of the judges. The suggestion is supported by the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of the Islamic Conferencand the Non-aligned Movement.
On the websites of CNN you can register free to log in on a special discussion forum about the Lockerbie Crisis. Here you find all kinds of opinion about the latest verdict from the International Court of Justice and Libya etc.
Click here to enter CNN's Lockerbie discussion forum!
The lawyer of the Libyan defendants in the Lockerbie case Ibrahim Al Ghawil called on the UN secretary general Kofi Annan to study a proposal which suggests holding their trial in Lahai according to Scottish law and to submit this proposal to the Security Council.
Al Ghawil said that the problem is not with the judicial system but agreeing on a solution that guarantees a fair trial. He specified the conditions for such a trial: it should be held away from the political and media condemnation prevailing intensively in the US and Britain and away from biased jurors who will be affected more by political and media condemnations than by laws. Al Ghawil added that he will try to nullify any procedure or attempt to hand over the suspects to any other country because it violates Libyan and international laws.
He called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to request a group of consultants to study the idea of holding the trial in Lahai with a group of jurors headed by a Scottish chief of justice.
March 8, 1998 COTONOU, Benin (PANA) - The Afro-Arab Inter-parliamentary Union Saturday in Cotonou called for the lifting of the embargo imposed on Libya since April 15, 1992 by the UN Security Council.
The lawmakers also demanded compensation for the damage inflicted on Libya by the sanctions at the end of their meeting in Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin. Authorities in Tripoli are planning to submit a similar request to the Security Council after the International Court of Justice ruled recently that it was not qualified to try the Libyan suspects, thus rejecting the request made by the US and Britain for their extradition.
Mar 07, 1998 - The Security Council on Friday regrettably retained without change the sanctions imposed on Libya since 1992 for failing to hand over two suspects in the 1988 midair bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
But, at the request of Arab and African countries, council members agreed during private consultations earlier this week to hold a full-scale debate on March 20 on the Libya sanctions in light of a recent World Court decision. Last Friday, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled it had jurisdiction to hear Libyan arguments that the 1971 Montreal civil aviation convention allows the suspects to be put on trial in Libya and that Britain and the United States are acting unlawfully in insisting on their extradition to one or other of those countries.
London and Washington played down the ruling as a technicality. Tripoli called it a victory and Libyan revolutionary leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a speech last Monday, urged the Security Council to suspend the sanctions. Despite support for Libya among some council members, the sanctions remain in force unless the council takes a specific decision to ease them. Such a resolution would need a minimum of nine votes to be adopted and could be vetoed by the United States and Britain, as permanent council members.
Libya, backed by Arab, African and many other nonaligned countries, has long been pressing for the two suspects to be tried at a so-called neutral venue, saying they could not get a fair trial in Britain or the United States where the two alleged intelligence agents have both been indicted.
Friday's closed-door review of the sanctions, which include an arms and air embargo and the downgrading of diplomatic relations, was the 18th in a series conducted every 120 days. The initial sanctions were tightened in 1993 with a freeze on some Libyan assets abroad and a ban on some types of equipment used in oil terminals and refineries. But they do not affect oil exports or oil drilling equipment of a certain size and fabrication.
Libyan ambassador Abuzed Dorda spoke of the ``strong support for my country from all of the international community'' except the United States and Britain. ``Libya has no problem with the Security Council and the Security Council has no problem with Libya at all,'' he said. The only problem was between his country and the United States and Britain," he told reporters.
British ambassador Sir John Weston predictably said retention of the sanctions ``was the right decision'' because resolutions calling for the handing over of the suspects had not been carried out. Citing Libyan figures showing that its foreign currency reserves totaled $9.95 billion, of which $9.6 billion was accounted for by oil exports, Weston said: ``So here is a country which is the richest in Africa... which says that it is facing penury and suffering on account of the very specifically targeted U.N. sanctions which bear primarily on air transport. ``It's not a very credible case and one wonders why more of the money earned from oil exports is not being used in order to ameliorate the suffering of so many Libyan people, if that is indeed the case,'' he added. But he forgot, that not even money can buy airplane spare parts, when it is prohibited to do so.
American U.N. envoy Bill Richardson said the council had ``reaffirmed our search for justice,'' noting that a recent U.N. report made clear the suspects could receive a fair trial either in Scotland or the United States. He said the World Court had not ruled in Libya's favor, ``nor did it say that the case had any merit. It simply said that it would now look at the (Libyan) complaint.''
China's deputy U.N. representative Sheng Guofang expressed regret that ``the various sides have still yet to reach consensus'' and hoped the council would be able to ``take a step forward on this issue.'' ``China does not favor any kind of sanction against any country, including sanctions on Libya,'' he said, expressing support for options put forward by the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity for a trial at a neutral venue.
6 March 1998 - An attorney representing the families of four killed in the 1988 midair bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, said Friday that victims' families can now sue Libya for damages.
Attorney Aaron Broder, who won the largest of the damage awards against Pan Am Corp in the Flight 103 disaster, said a ruling last week by U.S. federal Judge Thomas Platt paves the way for survivors of the 189 Americans killed in the bombing to sue Libya for millions of dollars in punitive damages. "This landmark decision allows us to bring to justice the killers themselves, the Libyan government," Broder said. Ruling in the Eastern District of New York, Judge Platt last week denied a motion by the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya that as a sovereign nation it could not be sued by U.S. citizens.
The judge ruled that a convenient 1996 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act allowed courts to make exceptions to sovereignty rules for countries that were deemed terrorist nations by the U.S. Secretary of State. That amendment can be applied retroactively for 10 years, covering the bombing.
``Any foreign state would know that the United States has substantial interests in protecting its flag carriers and nationals from terrorist activities and should reasonably expect that if these interests were harmed, it would be subject to a variety of potential responses, including civil actions in United States courts,'' Judge Platt wrote.
Broder's partnership with famed lawyer F. Lee Bailey dissolved over the course of the Lockerbie case when Bailey provided legal counsel to Libya, Broder said. So much for impartial legal cooperations...
Open UN Council debate on Lockerbie on March 20 Mar 06, 1998 UNITED NATIONS, - The U.N. Security Council decided on Thursday to hold a full-fledged debate on March 20 on sanctions imposed on Libya since 1992 in light of a recent world court ruling, diplomats said. Britain and the United States had rejected combining the public meeting, requested by Arab and African states, with the council's periodic review of sanctions against Libya.
The review will go ahead as scheduled on Friday behind closed doors, the council decided after more than four hours of discussion on the issue on Thursday. No change in sanctions is expected after Friday's review. The council reviews the sanctions behind closed doors every 120 days but they have so far remained unchanged.
March the 5th /98 Libyan revolutionary leader Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday received the Brazilian parliamentary delegation currently visiting Libya, including representatives of several Brazilian parties.
Members of the Brazilian delegation expressed satisfaction over the ruling of the International Court of Justice concerning the question of Lockerbie. The court decided that it has jurisdiction to rule on a Libyan complaint involving the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. The delegates said this decision will refute all claims raised by Britain and the US in imposing repressive measures on Libya. The delegation also stressed the importance of supporting and boosting relations between Libya and Brazil for the growth and progress of the two countries.
Libya Sanction Hearings Sought in the UN Security CouncilMarch 4, 1998; UNITED NATIONS-- Arab and African countries are urging an open Security Council debate to pressure Britain and Washington to ease sanctions imposed on Libya after the 1988 Pan Am bombing. The 15 council members had been scheduled to review -- and presumably renew -- the sanctions for another 120 days this week. Such reviews are routinely done in closed sessions.
But Arab and African members of the Security Council are urging the current president, Abdoulie Momodou Saleh of Gambia, to postpone the review and schedule an open debate, diplomatic sources said Wednesday on condition of anonymity. That would enable any U.N. member state to join the discussions.
The United States and Britain could block any decision to lift or ease the sanctions, which were imposed in 1992 to pressure Libyan revolutionary leader Moammar Gadhafi to extradite two suspects in the fatal bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The bombing killed 270 people. Still, an open debate would draw attention to calls by the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity to lift the sanctions. Libya has proposed sending the two Libyan suspects to a third country for trial. Washington and London insist they be tried in Scotland or the United States.
But a growing number of council members, including Russia, have urged the council to consider Gadhafi's offer. The use of sanctions as a means of pressuring governments has lost favor among many of the 185 U.N. member states, in part because they cause suffering among populations who often have little influence on their governments' policies. In an attempt to head off the debate, Britain and the United States have asked U.N. legal officers for a ruling on whether the review must be completed by the end of the week, the sources said.
If so, there would not be enough time under U.N. rules to organize an open debate.
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