Washington -- The U.S. Government has called upon Organization of African Unity (OAU) member states to abide by the binding decisions of the U.N. Security Council and to disregard a June 8 resolution by the OAU asking African nations "to suspend compliance with UN Security Council sanctions on Libya immediately for religious, humanitarian or OAU-related Libyan flights, and to ignore sanctions entirely beginning in September if the U.S. and UK have not by then agreed to one of
Qadhafi's third country trial options."

"We are extremely disturbed by this short-sighted action, which constitutes a direct assault on the authority of the Security Council and its binding resolutions adopted under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations," State Department Spokesman James Rubin said in a statement June 10.

The U.S. also calls upon the OAU to rescind "this irresponsible resolution," which, Rubin said, "cannot affect in any event" the
obligations of OAU members to fulfill their UN charter obligations.

Following is the text of Rubin's statement:

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

For Immediate Release

June 10, 1998

STATEMENT BY JAMES P. RUBIN, SPOKESMAN

OAU Resolution on Libya

In a June 8 resolution, the Organization of African Unity heads of state called on African nations to suspend compliance with UN Security Council sanctions on Libya immediately for religious, humanitarian or OAU-related Libyan flights, and to ignore sanctions entirely beginning in September if the U.S. and UK have not by then agreed to one of Qadhafi's third country trial options.

We are extremely disturbed by this short-sighted action, which constitutes a direct assault on the authority of the Security Council and its binding resolutions adopted under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations. It is thus an attack on the UN system itself. The integrity of UNSC sanctions and the requirement that the sanctions regime be universally observed were essential to resolving African conflicts in Mozambique, Angola, and South Africa. For sanctions to remain an effective tool in resolving disputes everywhere, countries cannot pick and choose which sanctions they will observe. We also note that under existing UN resolutions there are already procedures for approving appropriate humanitarian and religious flights.

This decision makes it less likely, not more likely, that the Lockerbie matter will be resolved, because it may lead Qadhafi to
conclude mistakenly that he no longer has to comply with Security Council resolutions. In order to resolve this situation as quickly as possible, the OAU should instead focus its efforts on urging Libya to comply with Security Council resolutions 883, 731 and 748 immediately.

We call upon OAU members to fulfill their UN charter obligations to abide by the binding decisions of the UN Security Council and to disregard this action by the OAU, which cannot in any event affect those obligations. We also call upon the OAU to rescind this irresponsible resolution.

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