Lockerbie: Gaddafi to pay up

2003-08-06 11:05

Washington - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi could soon take the blame for the 1988 bombing of a US jumbo jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie and pay $2.7bn (about R20bn) to the 270 victims dollars.

The Washington Post said on Wednesday lawyers and diplomats hoped to sign an agreement next week and deposit the money in an escrow account at Switzerland's Bank of International Settlements, sources familiar with the two-year-long negotiations told the daily.

Once the documents are signed, Libya will notify the United Nations security council that it assumes responsibility for the deadly bombing.

The United Nations, in turn, would lift its economic sanctions and Libya would begin talks with the United States government that could lead to the lifting of sanctions.

A US official who requested anonymity said an agreement would "pave the way for a dialogue" aimed at determining Libya's interest in weapons of mass destruction and in supporting military regimes.

Significant first step

"The answers to those questions will help determine how quickly the issues in our bilateral relationship will be resolved," said the official, adding that an evaluation of Gaddafi would take time.

"Rather than a rapid swinging open of the door, it is a significant first step toward Libya addressing the concerns of the United States," said the official.

A Libyan agent reluctantly handed over by Tripoli was convicted in January 2001 by a special Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands of planting the bomb which destroyed a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, killing all 259 people aboard plus 11 on the ground.

A month after the conviction, Gaddafi said he categorically refused to indemnify the victims of Lockerbie in exchange for a lifting of sanctions, saying Libya was not obliged to accept compromises or make concessions.

The $2.7bn dollar payment Libya would make to the families of the 270 victims of the bombing, would be paid in instalments linked to the lifting of UN and US sanctions, said the sources familiar with the talks.

Each family would receive $10m, the first $4m of which would be disembursed when UN sanctions were lifted.

A further $4m would be delivered to each family once US sanctions were lifted, with the final $2m payments to be made if the US state department removed Libya from its list of states that supported terrorism.

- AFP