LIBYA-UN: Africa Urges Compromise in Libyan Sanctions Row

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 25 1997 (IPS) - African nations took the lead in a special U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday in urging a compromise on the five-year-old United Nations embargo against Libya.

Speaking as chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told the 15-nation Council of the need to consider an offer by Libya for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to try two of its nationals suspected of involvement in the 1988 bombing of a Pan American airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.

“We feel that this offer should receive your serious consideration so that matters move forward” and some steps are needed to ease the plight of the Libyan population, he said.” In addition to the families of those who lost their lives, many other innocent third people continue to suffer as a result of the sanctions imposed on Libya.”

His appeal was supported by OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim, who emphasised the need for “a fair trial of the suspects according to acceptable requirements of justice and international law.”

The OAU stance on Libya again showed up the sharp divisions in the world community over continuing the embargo. Just last Sunday, the 22 members of the Arab League agreed in Cairo not to abide by the U.N. travel ban against Libya in cases of regional travel by the Libyan leadership or of humanitarian flights and religious pilgrimages, the OAU stance showed the sharp divisions the continuation of the embargo has caused.

The Security Council unanimously imposed a ban on all flights to and from Libya in 1992, in an effort to force Tripoli to turn over the two bombing suspects, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah and Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, to stand trial in either the United States or Britain.

Libya has refused to do so, contending that the suspects would not receive a fair trial in either country. But it has offered to turn al-Megrahi and Fhimah over to the ICJ, to be tried by a Scottish jury and in accordance with Scottish law. That Libyan offer, which both Mugabe and Salim urged the Council to consider, has split the unity of both the Security Council and the country’s Arab neighbours in imposing the sanctions.

The Arab League resolution invited its members “to take measures to alleviate the sanctions on Libya until a peaceful and just solution to the crisis can be found.” In language that specifically contradicts the U.N. ban, the resolution asked the Arab states to allow flights of Libyan leaders and for “the transport of the ill and the dead and medicine, as well as religious flights.”

In some ways, the Arab League only has put in writing what has been a gradual easing of the implementation of the travel ban over the years. Last year, Arab leaders allowed Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi to fly to Cairo for a regional summit meeting, while Libya has sent Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the annual ‘hajj’ pilgrimage since 1994.

Nor is the increased frustration over sanctions unexpected, say U.N. officials. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has known for some time that the international resolve to keep the sanctions on Libya in place has been weakening, officials say, and has suggested that the Security Council devise “sunset clauses” to phase out long-lasting embargoes.

Yet the United States and Britain – both of whom hold veto power in the Security Council – are adamant to keep the pressure on Libya.

Robin Cook, the British foreign minister, noted Thursday that there is no legal provision for a Scottish court to try suspects anywhere outside of Scotland. Cook earlier this week also criticised the Arab League resolution, arguing, “That decision undermines the authority of all U.N. resolutions.”

U.S. Foreign Secretary Madeleine Albright added “There can be no compromise when it comes to Libyan terrorism…the responsibility for the effect of this Council’s actions on the people of Libya rests squarely with the government of Libya.”

Albright urged African nations to reject what she deemed to be “the culture of impunity” that has protected human rights violators and terrorists in the past. “We must be united in our demand for full compliance with this Council’s resolutions,” she urged.

Nonetheless the burst of support for Libya – in a special meeting dedicated to Africa of the foreign ministers from member states of the Security Council – clearly took U.S. and British officials by surprise and underscored the fracture in Council unity on the issue.

Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov, took the occasion to state Moscow’s own support for a compromise to end the Libyan sanctions. “We have to find the way to solve this issue,” Primakov said. “I believe that the Libyan proposal on the Lockerbie case deserves attention.”

Libya has repeatedly denied responsibility for the 1988 bombing, in which 270 people died and, despite reports alleging Syrian or Palestinian involvement in the bombing and Libya’s own offers of alternative trial venues, the Council has continued to renew the sanctions for five years.