Lockerbie: Libya admits liability

2003-04-29 14:09

Tripoli - Libya has accepted civil responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham has said.

"My country has accepted civil responsibility for the actions of its officials in the Lockerbie affair, in conformity with international civil law and the agreement reached in London in March by Libyan, American and British officials," he said.

It comes six weeks after reports that Libya had reached a £1.6bn agreement with the United States and Britain to accept civil responsibility for the 1988 bombing.

Under the deal, it was said Libya would pay up to £6.2m to the families of each of the flight's 270 victims into a special trust account.

The cash would be in return for the removal of international sanctions.

At the time, sources said Libya was prepared to accept civil liability for the acts of a state employee but not criminal responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

Under the arrangement, Libya was said to be prepared to compensate families of the 259 mostly-American passengers and crew killed in the mid-air explosion of the Pan Am flight over the Scottish town.

Families of the 11 people killed on the ground would also be compensated.

Tripoli would pay up only if a series of steps to remove United Nations and United States sanctions against it, the source said.

That would make the total value of the settlement roughly £2.7bn if all conditions were met.

A Libyan intelligence agent, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, was convicted of the crime by a Scottish court sitting in The Netherlands.

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