Morocco and Tunisia hope Lockerbie issue will be settled

Morocco and Tunisia have voiced hope that the Lockerbie problem between Libya and the US and UK will be settled soon.

This came in an exchange of speeches during a dinner banquet hosted by King Hassan II on Monday evening in Marrakesh in honor of President Ben Ali, who arrived in Morocco earlier in the day, on an official visit.

"We wish that the efforts underway for the settlement of the Lockerbie issue will result in a final resolution, leading to the lifting of the embargo and the suppression of its negative repercussions," King Hassan II said.

A recent South African and Saudi Arabian mediation paved the way to the settlement of the Lockerbie issue through the trial in a neutral country of two libyans suspected of being behind the bombing of a U.S Pan-Am jet over the Scottish village of Lockerbie in 1988. The final touches are being put for a resolution of this conflict and subsequently for lifting the sanctions imposed on Libya.

The Lockerbie case is among the thorny issues that contributed to halting the march of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA, mustering Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) towards integration.

President Ben Ali joined King Hassan in voicing hope to see the issue settled and the embargo lifted to activate the Maghreban integration process.