News of nearby agreements to end Lockerbie crisis: Libya to shoulder civil responsibility for Lockerbie
Libya-USA, Politics, 3/12/2003

Libya is about to reach a political agreement with the US and Britain by accepting to shoulder the civil responsibility exploding the plane in the Lockerbie incident of1988 and paying compensation of 10 million dollars to each family of the 270 victims.

A source close to the negotiations said after the US under secretary of state William Burns had met with Libyan and British officials in London, the issue will become history, implying the end of the dispute. It is presumed that this agreement, if trues, will end a bitter conflict between the West and Libya which was exposed to UN sanctions between 1992- 1999 and is still under American sanctions.

The agreement states that Libya will pay compensations for the families of the 259 killed individuals and to the members of the crew of the plane which was blown up in the air over the Scottish Lockerbie town, as well as 11 persons killed on the ground in 1988. The source added that Libya will pay almost 10 million dollars for each victim in a special account and this will be for a series of steps that would lead to the end of all sanctions imposed by the UN and the US on Lybia. The total sum for settling this issue will be 2.7 billion dollars if all conditions are fulfilled.

The source indicated that a detente was attained in the talks when Libya was convinced to hold the civil responsibility for the crimes committed by Libyan government officials but did not accept the criminal responsibility for Lockerbie accident.

In Washington, an official at the US Department of State described London's meeting as "useful and we have attained more progress."

Previous Stories:
  Qathafi wants US compensation for killing his daughter, same as Lockerbie   (1/13/2003)
  Bush extends economic sanctions on Libya   (1/6/2003)
  Preconditioned Libyan compensation for families of Lockerbie victims   (10/31/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search