Mandela to head for Libya

Spokesman for the UN Secretary General has asserted that the visit of South African President Nelson Mandela to Libya on Friday in order to meet with Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi is being made in the framework of "coordination with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and in support of his continued efforts aiming at solving the Lockerbie incident."

A British diplomat in New York said, "We do not have a problem with Mandela. We wish him best chances for achieving success."

A well-informed source in new York expected that the Saudi ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, will accompany Mandela on his visit to Libya.

The mediation and "good offices" exerted to settle the "Lockerbie " crisis is a joint mediation by South Africa and Saudi Arabia. Spokesman for the president of South Africa said on Tuesday that Mandela will stop in Libya in his way from Stockholm to his country on Friday 18 in order to hold consultations with Gaddafi on several issues, "Naturally, the incident of Lockerbie is one of these issues."