POLITICS-LIBYA: UN Praises Handover of Lockerbie Suspects

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 5 1999 (IPS) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday that he hoped for the end of Libya’s isolation from the outside world after two Libyan bombing suspects were handed over to stand trial in the Netherlands.

Annan said he was “gratified and relieved” that Libya’s government had turned over the suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, so that they can be tried by a Scottish court in Camp Zeist, a former US military base in the Netherlands.

“I trust that the outcome of the trial will lead to a full and permanent resumption of normal relations between (Libya) and the rest of the international community,” he said.

The UN Security Council followed Annan’s announcement of the transfer with an acknowledgement that its conditions for suspending international sanctions on Libya, first imposed in 1992, had been met. “These measures therefore have been effectively suspended,” said Council President Alain Dejammet of France.

“This is welcome news, although long overdue,” said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook described the handover as “historic” and said it justified London’s decision last year to seek a trial in a neutral third country.

The secretary-general added that the sanctions, including an air travel ban imposed on Libya seven years ago, and months of negotiations by UN officials had played a critical role in persuading Tripoli to allow its citizens to be tried abroad.

“No country likes to be treated like an outcast,” Annan argued. Now, Annan noted, he must report within 90 days to the UN Security Council about whether Libya is involved in sponsoring terrorist activities – and, if Tripoli gets a clean bill of health from Annan, the UN sanctions will be lifted permanently.

The Monday morning handover, in which UN legal adviser Hans Corell accompanied al-Megrahi and Fhimah aboard an Italian plane with UN markings to the Netherlands, was an important diplomatic victory for the United Nations after months of haggling.

Annan also credited South African President Nelson Mandela and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah for their mediation, which helped to convince Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi to accept the compromise offer of a Netherlands-based trial.

The US and British governments – whose nations accounted for most of the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan American flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people were killed – had for years insisted that only a US or British trial of the suspects would be acceptable.

Last year, lobbying from several African nations steered Washington and London to adopt a compromise of a Netherlands trial – but held under special legal arrangements to allow for a Scottish judge and trial system to be in force.

That was a compromise Qadhafi himself had favoured, until it was embraced by the United States and Britain. Last fall, Libyan UN Ambassador Abuzed Omar Dorda called the US-British deal “honey with a dose of poison”, and complained that there were insufficient safeguards that al-Megrahi and Fhimah would obtain a fair trial.

Corell’s office then went to work in developing safeguards to satisfy Libya about the fairness of the trial. Annan noted Monday that international observers will be allowed to monitor the trial – possibly including UN officials – and that the United Nations will also determine the “monitoring of prison arrangements if the accused were to be convicted”.

UN officials have also tried to ease Tripoli’s two main concerns, UN sources said: that the sanctions would not be lifted and that the trial could be used as a pretext to tarnish senior Libyan officials. (Al-Megrahi and Fhimah allegedly worked for Libyan intelligence services.)

Annan denied making any assurances to Qadhafi that the trial would only focus on the two suspects and not on any possible higher involvement. But US sources – and some of the parents of the US victims, including Daniel Cohen, who heads a victims’ families group – have accused the world body of making that guarantee in private with the Libyan leader.

At least some of the assurance that Libya has received has come from the open support many African and Arab nations have given for the lifting of sanctions. After Annan visited Libya in December, he said he decided to involve the Saudi and South African governments in the process of winning Libyan support for the trial plan.

Last month, Qadhafi showed that the fruits of Mandela’s efforts had paid off, saying that “it is not possible to doubt the judgment of a Scottish court” after the South African leader met him in Tripoli.

Two weeks ago, Annan said, the Libyan government informed him that they would hand over the suspects on Apr 5. After that, the United Nations began to plan discreetly for the transfer, with Italy providing a plan for UN use.

With Libya now having delivered the Pan American suspects and allowed a trial in absentia to proceed in France over the bombing of UTA flight 772 over Chad, UN diplomats believe the sanctions will be dropped quickly. That would mean an end to both the 1992 air travel ban and a 1993 measure which prohibited the sale of some oil-related machinery to Libya.

Yet there are still hurdles before Libya can resume normal relations with the United States and Britain, which had maintained a hard line even as support for the UN sanctions was withering.

If the suspects are found guilty, both governments may be tempted to determine whether senior Libyan officials were also involved in the Pan American bombing. Neither seems as willing as Annan to accept that Libya has cut its support for terrorism.

Libya also could be liable to pay compensation to the victims if al-Megrahi and Fhimah are found guilty, a commitment which Annan said he expected Tripoli to honour.