Libya will hand over Lockerbie suspects only to international court

Libyan Leader Moammar Ghaddafi said Libya will hand over its two nationals suspected of being behind the Lockerbie bombing only to an international court.

"The solution (to the issue) is to form an international court with American, Libyan, English and other judges sitting in it," Gaddafi told a Dutch TV.

The Libyan leader decried the sanctions imposed on his country since 1992 for its refusal to hand over the two nationals allegedly involved in the explosion which killed some 270 people.

On Monday US President Clinton said that the US intends to ask the United Nations at its next sanctions-review meeting in February to tighten the sanctions if Libya refuses to hand over the two suspects.

Meanwhile, Chad's President Idris Deby and his foreign minister Muhammad Saleh al-Nazif arrived in Tripoli airport on Monday in violation of the air embargo imposed by the UN on Libya due to the Lockerbie incident.

The Libyan radio said that that Deby will meet with the Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi to discuss African matters. This is, however, Deby's third visit to Libya this year. The visit coincides with the tenth anniversary of the US aircraft explosion over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.