LIBYA-UN: Tripoli Objects to Lockerbie Trial Proposals

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 29 1998 (IPS) - Libya has rejected several conditions attached to a plan that would allow the trial of two Libyan bombing suspects to go ahead in the Netherlands, Libya’s U.N. Ambassador, Abuzed Omar Dorda, said Tuesday.

Libya previously had declared its willingness to comply with demands that the two Libyans, Abdul Basset al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, be tried by a Scottish judge and jury in a neutral country like the Netherlands. The two men are accused of involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan American airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people died.

Dorda, however, made clear his government’s suspicions that the acceptance by the United States and Britain of a trial in a third country, after years of stalling, would continue the six-year U.N sanctions regime on Libya.

Dorda told the U.N. General Assembly that Tripoli “has accepted a trial of the two suspects before a Scottish Court that would sit in the Netherlands, but would not accept the setting of any conditions in relation to the implementation of that proposal.”

In particular, he argued, Libya would not hand over al-Megrahi or Fhimah to any trial until it had guarantees that “the two will not be extradited or transferred either to the United States or (Britain) for any reason whatsoever, at any phase of the trial.” He sought an agreement between the Netherlands and Libya to ensure the suspects’ safety and return at the trial’s end.

The governments of the United States and Britain have refused to negotiate on any terms under which which the suspects would be tried in the Netherlands. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright last week asked Libya to accept the offer and warned that any delays by Tripoli should be regarded as stalling to prevent any trial from being held.

Nevertheless, some governments in Africa and the Arab world – weary over the travel ban imposed on Libya since 1992 to compel its cooperation with a Lockerbie trial – are sympathetic to the idea that there should be further negotiations.

“We call upon the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Netherlands to engage in discussions with Libya, directly or through the U.N. Secretary-General, to arrive at trial arrangements which will offer appropriate safety measures for the two suspects,” Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings told the General Assembly last week.

Other leaders have worried about the fine points of the US- British agreement, including the Aug. 27 request by the U.N. Security Council for Libya to provide any evidence or witnesses requested by the Netherlands court for the trial. “I know of no system of jurisprudence anywhere in the world where the accused is required to produce witnesses for the prosecution,” South African President Nelson Mandela countered.

More worrisome for Libya is the possibility that al-Megrahi and Fhimah, if found guilty, could be made to serve their sentences in Britain. An agreement made between the British, U.S. and Dutch governments asserted that “the accused would be transferred to the United Kingdom for the purpose of serving a custodial sentence imposed by the Scottish court, following the conviction of the accused”.

Libya, however, wants the suspects to serve any sentences, if they are found guilty, in the Netherlands, since that is where the trial is being held. Dorda told the Assembly that Tripoli would also oppose any “institutional piracy” whereby the suspects were transferred from the Netherlands to any U.S. or British courts for trial.

The Libyan envoy also voiced suspicions of the trial venue, which he characterised as “a military base used by the Americans in the Netherlands” and cast doubts on whether the travel ban and other sanctions would be lifted immediately once the suspects were handed over.

Ultimately, argued Slovenia’s U.N. ambassador, Danilo Turk, the root of the problems is that “the level of mistrust and distrust is still very serious” between Libya on one side and the United States and Britain on the other.

U.S. officials believe that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has no intention of allowing a trial, and view the Netherlands offer as a means of calling his bluff. Libya is similarly wary that sanctions will never be lifted – and, after Iraq and Libya have suffered U.N. sanctions for years, many developing nations and Security Council member states have come to share that belief.

“I believe that, within a few months, these problems could be solved,” Turk contended recently.

However, Dorda’s criticisms of the Netherlands proposal could bode ill for any immediate compromise. London and Washington have insisted that, if Tripoli rejects the Netherlands compromise even though it was pushed by its supporters – including the Organisation of African Unity – then the Security Council should consider tougher sanctions to compel its cooperation.