UNITED NATIONS: Libya Defies Sanctions, Irritating Big Powers

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1 1996 (IPS) - The United States, Britain, and France are livid that Libya is openly defying the United Nations — and getting away with it.

The three big powers say that Libya is violating U.N. sanctions by sporadically flying its national carrier out of Tripoli, beefing up its diplomatic missions abroad, and keeping some of its overseas airline offices open.

The U.N. sanctions were the result of allegations that Libya was either directly or indirectly responsible for the destruction of a Pan Am 747 aircraft over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 and a UTA DC-10 over Niger in Sep. 1989. The two on-air explosions resulted in the deaths of hundreds of passengers.

U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa told reporters Thursday that the chairman of the Sanctions Committee Ambassador Zbigniew Wlosowicz of Poland had once again warned Libya against any new attempts to break U.N. sanctions.

The warning was prompted by Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi’s threat last week to fly out of Tripoli later this month on the national Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA).

Asked what the United Nations could do if Qaddafi continues to defy the rules, Foa said she did not have the answer to that question.

Last year, Libya violated a ban on air travel by dispatching hundreds of pilgrims on a LAA flight to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. And Qaddafi flew out of Tripoli last month to attend an Arab summit meeting in Cairo, embarrassing host country Egypt which at that time chaired the very Security Council that had imposed sanctions on Libya.

In a letter to the Sanctions Committee, the United States, Britain and France say they have found that in certain cities, the number of diplomats stationed at Libyan diplomatic missions has increased in violation of Security Council resolutions. These cities include Bamako, Bangui, Beijing, Beirut, N’Djamena, and Sana’a.

The charge that Libya has increased its diplomatic presence in Beijing puts China in a spot, because it is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, along with the United States, France, Britain, and Russia.

“Our inquiries also concluded that in certain cities, including Amman and Cairo, offices of the Libyan Arab Airlines remain open and staffed,” the letter adds.

The 1992 Security Council resolution says that “U.N. member states shall prevent the operation of all Libyan airline offices.” In another 1993 resolution, the Council asks member- states to take steps for “the immediate and complete closure of all Libyan airline offices.”

“There is no justification for such offices to remain open,” the letter adds.

The 1992 resolution also urges countries to inform Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali of measures they had taken to comply with the resolution. But the letter hints that some nations may be collaborating with Libya in its attempts to break the embargo.

“There are still a large number of countries” that have not responded to the Security Council request, the letter says. “The three governments suggest that these member states should be given until the end of August to comply with their obligations.”

“After this point, the Sanctions Committee will be requested to send letters reminding those who have not complied, urging them to do so,” the letter notes.

The three Western states have implicated two Libyan officials in the two bombings and have asked Tripoli to produce them before a court either in Britain or the United States.

But Qaddafi, who has denied that the two officials had anything to do with the bombing, has said he is willing to produce them before the International Court of Justice in the Hague so that they will get a fair hearing. The Western states have rejected this offer resulting in a long stalemate.