U.S. says Libya must comply with U.N. obligations
Libya-USA, Politics, 1/24/2002

The White House spokesman denied a report in the January 23 newspaper USA Today that the United States and Libya were close to a deal under which Gaddafi's government would pay as much as $6 billion in compensation for the bombing of Pan Am 103 and then Libya would be taken off the State Department list of rogue nations.

The London-to-New York flight was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people, most of them Americans.

Discussions "have been under way involving several of the parties with Libya. But the report this morning that there is any type of agreement is substantially, widely off the mark," the spokesman said.

"There is no such agreement. There have been conversations, but Libya knows what it needs to do, and that is to follow the United Nations' policies about paying reparations to the victims of the attack at Lockerbie, as well as to apologize for the attack. And that has not yet taken place.

"And that's a separate matter from de-listing Libya as a terrorist state that sponsors terrorism. That's a matter that's with the State Department and is separate and apart from Libya simply conforming to the actions that they are supposed to conform to in accordance with the U.N. obligations."

"There have been positive discussions with Libya, but Libya still has not fully complied with its United Nations Security Council resolutions. The United States government is not -- not -- negotiating a compensation settlement with the Libyans. As we've said before, we are committed to preserving the right of the families of Pan Am 103 victims and will not undercut their pending claims," Fleischer said.

Meantime, Libya must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding its responsibility in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 as a first step to getting its name removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at his regular press briefing in Washington January 23.

He stressed that there was no change in the U.S. policy towards Libya, and that the recent meetings held in London between U.S. and British representatives and their Libyan counterparts "doesn't represent any kind of new initiative or shift in our relationship."

He added "what I need to do, I think, is make clear that people understand where we have been with Libya and where we remain with Libya, and that is to say there's been no change in our policy towards Libya. The United States and the UK have conducted a dialogue with Libya. It doesn't represent any kind of new initiative or shift in our relationship. Libya remains on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Our April 2001 edition of Patterns of Global Terrorism sets out our views. And as that report explains, Libya's working to improve its public image, but it can best demonstrate its commitment to any change by complying with the remaining U.N. Security Council requirements related to Pan Am 103. And as we all know, Libya has not done that yet."

He said "This has been the focus of our discussions with Libya, and it will remain our focus, regardless of the channel or the interlocutor. Libya must comply with its U.N. Security Council obligations and it must put its terrorist past behind it. There can be no shortcuts around those obligations, and we continue to call upon Libya to fulfill it.That's our goal, is to change Libyan behavior, and this is the principal thing that -- shall we saw the first and foremost condition is to comply with U.N. Security Council requirements. But once they do that, then we would address other issues involved of their being on the terrorism list."

Previous Stories:
  The US and Libya   (1/17/2002)
  American sanctions against Libya extended   (1/4/2002)
  Libya seeks to normalize relations with the US, EU   (9/5/2001)

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