Tripoli takes civil responsibility for Lockerbie issue
Libya-USA, Politics, 4/30/2003

Libya's secretary of the people's general committee for foreign relations and international cooperation, Abdul Rahman Shalqam, announced yesterday that Libya agrees to shoulder civil responsibility in the Lockerbie incident which took place in 1988.

The Libyan official said that "my country approved to shoulder civil responsibility for the acts of its employees in the Lockerbie issue, according to the civil International Law, and according to the agreement signed in March in London between the Libyan, American and British officials."

Shalqam, on the other hand, announced that compensation for the families of the victims will take place quickly, stressing that "Libyan and non Libyan businessmen have actually opened a Fund for compensating the families of victims of Lockerbie incident to collect these compensations." He said "I hope that the compensation will be paid as soon as possible and might be in the coming week." Replying to a question on means of paying these compensations, he said that the proposal states to pay 10 million dollars for each family.

Shalqam explained there is a proposal to pay these compensations at three shifts: the first is to pay 4 million for each victim and by that the sanctions to be lift immediately from Libya, and other four million to be paid after which the unilateral American sanctions will be lifted while a sum of 2 million will be paid to remove Libya's name from the American list of the terrorism- sponsor states."

American officials announced on March 12nd that Libya had agreed to shoulder part of the responsibility in Lockerbie attack which took place in 1988. A matter which was rejected until then and to pay a sum of 7.2 billion as compensations for the families of the 270 victims of the catastrophe.

Shalqam said that the "American and Libyan officials encourage the acceleration of ending all measures as soon as possible." The Libyan ambassador in London Muhammad al-Zawi announced that the political meetings which took place between Libyan officials on the one hand and others from Britain and the USA, on the other, only dealt with the issue of offering a suitable compensation for the victims of the Lockerbie incident, according to UN security council resolutions concerned. However, the American officials indicated, on the other hand, that the announcement on an agreement to lift the international and US sanctions imposed on Libya for this agreement is not nearby despite the progress attained during a meeting in London.

The incident took place on December 21st, 1988 over the city of Lockerbie in Scotland and resulted in killing 270 persons who are the 259 passengers of the American Ban- American plane and 11 persons from Lockerbie village on which the plane fell.

Previous Stories:
  Powell: negotiations with Libya over Lockerbie issue is in a critical position   (3/20/2003)
  Libyan responsibility for Lockerbie incident reported   (3/13/2003)
  News of nearby agreements to end Lockerbie crisis: Libya to shoulder civil responsibility for Lockerbie   (3/12/2003)

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