Saudi and South African Envoys to Visit Libya
Libya, Politics, 1/9/1999

The United Nations on Friday announced that Saudi Arabian and South African envoys will visit Libya next week for talks on the Lockerbie issue.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told a press conference in New York that the envoys, Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, his country's ambassador to Washington, and Jakes Gerwel, South African President Nelson Mandela's chief of staff, would leave for Libya from London next Tuesday.

Eckhard said they would fly to the Libyan capital of Tripoli and then to the coastal town of Sirte, Gaddafi's desert tent domicile, and return on Wednesday "in support of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's efforts on the Lockerbie case."

Slovenian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Danilo Turk, chairman of the Security Council's Libya sanctions committee, said Bandar's application to waive a U.N. flight ban against Libya had been granted for the trip.

Their visit is considered key following talks in Pretoria between Mandela and British Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier this week.

Both said they had made progress in resolving outstanding issues.

Bandar and Gerwel intend to deliver letters to Gaddafi on behalf of their respective governments, they told the sanctions committee.

Annan last month visited Gaddafi in Sirte in an effort to secure the surrender of the two men, but he failed to talk the Libyan leader into handing over the two Libyans, who were accused of planting a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight 103. It exploded as it flew over the Scottish village of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, killing 260 people on the ground and in the air, 189 of them Americans.

Previous Stories:
  US extends state of emergency with Libya   (12/31/1998)
  Arab League continues efforts for solution to Lockerbie incident   (12/24/1998)
  Blair calls upon the International community to pressure Libya hand over Lockerbie suspects   (12/23/1998)
  Libya will hand over Lockerbie suspects only to international court   (12/22/1998)

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