20 March 1998
(Pan Am families attend Security Council meeting on Libya) (1280) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- American and British diplomats told the Security Council March 20 that their governments will not compromise and economic sanctions must remain on Libya until the two suspects in the mid-air bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie nine years ago are surrendered. U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson, backed by families of the victims, and British Ambassador Sir John Weston, said he hoped the large public debate in the council would serve to dispel Libya's misrepresentations and distortions about not only the fairness of any trial held in either Scotland or the United States, but also the effect of sanctions on Libya. On December 21, 1988, a terrorist bomb blew Pan Am Flight 103 out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people from 21 countries, including 189 Americans. Libya asked for the council meeting and its foreign minister, Omar Mustafa Montassir, told the council that the case against the two suspects -- Abdel Basset ali Al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah -- is "nothing more than a mere suspicion." He reiterated Libya's proposal that the two be tried in a third country. The foreign minister also said the sanctions are hurting Libyan citizens. He asked that, in light of a ruling by the International Criminal Court that it would review Libya's case, sanctions be lifted. More than 50 nations spoke during the day-long debate which, however, will not affect the sanctions regime. During a periodic sanctions review on March 6, the council decided that the sanctions should remain in place. The mandatory sanctions, imposed in April 1992, cut air links to Libya because of Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qadhafi's failure to cooperate with the United States and Britain in the extradition of two Libyans suspected in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and with France in the investigation of the bombing of UTA flight 772. In November 1993, the council added to the original sanctions, freezing assets and embargoing equipment needed by Libya's oil industry. The sanctions are to remain in place until Libya cooperates with the three nations; agrees to pay compensation; and demonstrates "by concrete actions" that it has definitively ended all terrorist acts and assistance to terrorist groups. Richardson said Libya's claims were "false" and "nothing more than a smoke screen" put up by the Libyan government to draw attention away from the victims and their families. "We are here today because six years ago, following two of the most extensive criminal investigations ever undertaken, compelling evidence was presented to indicate that Libyan intelligence operatives placed the bombs that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 and UTA flight 772," the ambassador said. "The international community condemned these horrific acts of terrorism and imposed sanctions upon Libya so that the men responsible would soon be brought to justice," he said. "Six years later, we are still waiting." "There is little hope of our seeing that suffering end until Libya finally complies with the will of the international community and turns over the two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing," the ambassador said. "Only then will sanctions be lifted; only then will Libya be given a chance to rejoin the family of nations, and only then will the victims' families receive the justice that they so richly deserve," Richardson said. Richardson pointed out that Libya, which earned nearly $10,000 million from oil sales in 1997, is the wealthiest country in Africa on a per capita basis. A 1996 U.N. maternal and child health report stated that childhood mortality in Libya has declined steadily for the last five years, child immunization is over 90 percent, the number of medical evacuation flights approved by the Sanctions Committee has increased every year since the sanctions were imposed, and the Sanctions Committee has also approved direct flights from Libya to Jedda for Haj pilgrims, he said. The British ambassador said that for over six years, Libya "has sought to enlist other members of the U.N. behind its policies of noncompliance, based on misrepresentations about the trial process, about the impact of sanctions and, most recently, about the preliminary ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)." "We greatly respect the Organization of African Unity and the Arab League," Sir John said. "We understand the pressure of regional solidarity. But we hope these organizations will not be used to undermine the Security Council's resolutions and that their influence will eventually be deployed to bring about Libya's acceptance of international law and justice for the victims." "As President Mandela said last October in Libya itself, the U.N. must be respected. Making an exception for Libya would harm the U.N. and its authority more generally," the British envoy said. Contrary to Libya's assertions, the ICJ ruling involves technical, procedural issues. The court did not call for the review or suspension of Security Council resolutions, U.S., British and French diplomats said. It clearly does not touch on the merits of the case. Robert Rosenstock, a legal adviser to the U.S. Mission, said the ICJ ruling was not what the United States sought "because we wanted to get rid of the distraction, but the ICJ ruling merely is preliminary in nature." The ICJ case "makes the point that if there's jurisdiction, it is because the initial resolution ... was a mere recommendation, but it "strongly suggests" that once the binding resolution demanding that Libya turn over the suspects or face sanctions was passed, the situation changed, Rosenstock pointed out. The decision, he said, "is not one that ought to provide comfort or strength" to Libya's claims. During a dramatic press conference prior to the council meeting, relatives of the victims talked of the tragedy and their desire to see justice done for their children, who were on the Pan Am flight on their way home for Christmas vacation. "I'm not a diplomat. I'm here because I'm one of the people who wants to remind you what this is all about. This is what it is all about," said Daniel Cohen, producing a photograph of his daughter, Theodora. "This is a victim. Mu'ammar Qadhafi is not a victim. George William's son is a victim. Kathleen Flynn's son is a victim. Rosemary Wolfe's stepdaughter is a victim. There are a lot of victims in this room and not one of them -- not one of them -- is a member of the Libyan ruling clique," Cohen said. George Williams, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc., said "we are here today for the purpose of expressing our non-negotiable demand to have the two Libyan Intelligence Operatives ... tried for mass murder in either the United States or Scotland. Period." "We simply do not understand how nations which say they oppose terrorism can support the agenda of nations which practice it," Williams said. "We understand that politics, commerce and regional interests often forge alliances in U.N. votes, but we are anxious to witness and record how the nations who defend Libya this day try to justify their positions." Williams also called Libya's attempts to contact the families "propaganda" and "the worst kind of harassment." But he added that Libya's letters had little effect on the families. "Americans don't intimidate easily," Williams said. "The initial reaction of some of our people was one of horror and anxiety," he said. "This then turned into anger and an increased resolve to see this through to the end, however long it takes. The sanctions will remain."