African countries challenge Lockerbie air embargo on Libya

African states continued yesterday their challenge of the air emabrgo imposed upon Libya as Eritrean President Issais Afworki arrived at the international airport in Tripoli.

Arriving in Tripoli, Afworki immediately described this step as an expression of his solidarity with the Libyan nation, then he joined three other African presidents: Sudanese President Omar Bashir, Mali's President Alpha Omar Konare, and Niger's President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara.

The four presidents arrived at Libya through air to joining the celebrations of the El-Fateh revolution anniversary, where the African leaders expressed their support for Libya in its stance toward the Lockerbie issue.

The Organization of African Unity (OAU) had decided last June to partially lift the UN embargo. The pan-African body warned that it will unilaterally lift the sanctions this September, after the International Court of Justice ruled in February that it is competent to look into the case of two Libyan nationals accused of masterminding the explosion of a Pan-Am airliner in 1988 over the Scottish village of Lockerbie.