New air-disaster bite on Libya
2003-08-23 13:47
Paris - A group representing the families of the Africans who died on a French airliner blown up in 1989 over Niger have demanded Libya pay compensation equivalent to that offered the Lockerbie victims.
"We will never accept an agreement that is under that contained in the agreement on Lockerbie," said a spokesperson for the kin of the 88 Africans who died on the UTA plane over Niger, said Abderaman Koulamallah.
Representatives of a group representing all the 170 victims on the UTA flight have been in Tripoli since Thursday.
They have been negotiating with officials from the Gaddafi Foundation, run by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam.
They went with the blessing of the French government, which has threatened to block a deal under which international sanctions against Libya would be lifted in return for a $2.7bn compensation to the families of the 270 who died in the bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
France has succeeded in delaying a United Nations vote on lifting the sanctions while the Tripoli negotiations take place.
French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin has repeated that he, too, wants to see Lockerbie-sized payments to the families of all the victims on the UTA flight before sanctions are lifted.
Multinational complement
His office has emphasised that compensation is being sought for the families of all those killed on UTA flight, regardless of nationality.
The French aircraft was carrying 54 French, 48 Congolese, 25 Chadians, 10 Italians, eight Americans, five Cameroonians, four Britons, three Canadians, three people from the Democratic Republic of Congo, two Central Africans, two Malians, two Swiss passengers, one Algerian, one Greek, one Moroccan and one Senegalese.
Paris has said a $33 payment by Libya to a third of the UTA families in 1989 as a "definitive resolution" of the bombing was not enough in light of the Lockerbie deal.
It is now seeking a much-higher "complementary settlement".
Koulamallah said "it seems the French government is giving more priority to the French families at the moment... let there be no mistake: the African families will never accept a cut-price deal.
Improved offer on the cards
"If people think they can throw us crumbs to keep us happy, they better think again. We will never, never accept that," he said.
A French foreign ministry spokesperson said on Saturday that the talks in Tripoli were continuing and there was no development as yet to report.
Libya initially termed the French demand "blackmail", but on Friday its ambassador to London, Mohammed al-Zouai, said an improved compensation offer to the UTA families might be made.
The United States state department said on Friday that Libya had transferred the entire $2.7bn agreed under the Lockerbie deal to a Swiss account.