05 April 1999
(UNSC informed of Libya's compliance) (800) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- Secretary General Kofi Annan April 5 officially informed the UN Security Council that the two Libyans suspected of carrying out the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 were killed, have been turned over to authorities in the Netherlands to stand trial before a Scottish court. UN legal counsel Hans Corell and the suspects arrived in the Netherlands aboard a plane provided by the Italian Government from Libya the afternoon of April 5. The Secretary General said that "everything went smoothly -- no hitches, no second thoughts" but while the UN wanted a "discreet" hand over, UN officials found a "crowd" of delegates who had been invited by Libya to witness the event. Annan then informed the Council that the two -- Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah -- were in the Netherlands as called for by the Security Council, setting in motion the Council's suspension of the sanctions against Libya. "This development marks a vital step forward in what has been a long ordeal for all involved, especially for the families of the victims, who have suffered an irreparable loss," Annan said in a statement to the press. "I am confident that the two suspects will receive a fair trial by a Scottish court in the Netherlands. I am also looking forward to the earliest possible resumption of Libya's normal relations with the rest of the international community," the Secretary General said. Annan said he expected the Council "to act on the suspension of the sanctions and I expect it to be fairly straightforward and almost automatic." Ambassador Alain Dejammet of France, President of the UNSC for the month of April, said after a closed Council meeting that Council members welcomed the Secretary General's report. "The members of the Council note that with this report the conditions set forth in paragraph 8 of UN Security Council resolution 1192 for the immediate suspension of the measures established ... have been fulfilled," Dejammet said. "These measures have been therefore effectively suspended." "The members of the Council express their deep satisfaction at this development. They are grateful to the Secretary General as well as to all the governments that have contributed to it," the President added. In late August 1998, the Security Council officially accepted the proposal of the United States and the United Kingdom to try the Pan Am bombing suspects in the Netherlands. Unanimously adopting resolution 1192, the Council set out the responsibilities for the arrangements and stated that the mandatory economic sanctions in place against Libya since 1992 would be suspended immediately when the Secretary General reported that the two accused had arrived in the Netherlands for trial. (Earlier in August the United States and Britain had agreed that the two suspects could be tried before a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands instead of in Scotland or in a US court.) The Council imposed mandatory sanctions against Libya in April 1992, cutting 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 Pan Am bombing and with France in the investigation of the bombing of a 1989 UTA flight over Niger in which 170 were killed. In November 1993, the Council added to the original sanctions, freezing Tripoli's assets and embargoing equipment needed by Libya's oil industry. The effort to bring the two to trial has spanned ten years, involving not only the Security Council and the Secretary General, but recently South African President Nelson Mandela and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. After meeting with Qadhafi in December, Annan contacted Mandela and the Crown Prince, whom he "thought could be helpful." Asked if he thought that sanctions played a role in getting Libya to turn over the two suspects, the Secretary General acknowledged that the putative measures "played a role." "No country likes to be treated as an outcast, outside the society of nations," he said. "When one is branded and sanctions imposed, one is marked." "I think Libya wanted to get back into the international community; Libya wanted to get on with its economic and social development and Libya wanted to be able to deal freely with its neighbors and with the rest of the world," Annan said. The Secretary General also has to submit another report to the Council within 90 days on whether Libya is involved in terrorism or not and on whether Libya is willing to pay compensation if the accused are found guilty. After that report, the Council will decide whether to end the sanctions permanently.