ACCESSION 
NUMBER:372930

FILE ID:TXT501

DATE:12/30/94

TITLE:JUSTICE FOR PAN AM 103 (12/30/94)

TEXT:*94123001.TXT

JUSTICE FOR PAN AM 103

(VOA Editorial)  (350)

(Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America December 30,

expressing the policies of the U.S. government.)



This month marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most barbaric acts of

international terrorism in recent times.  On December 21, 1988, a bomb

exploded aboard Pan American flight 103, 31,000 feet above the quiet

Scottish village of Lockerbie.  Two-hundred seventy men, women, and

children, from 30 nations, were murdered.



Authorities in the United States and Britain have evidence linking Abd

al-Basit al-Maqrahi a senior Libyan intelligence officer and Lamin Fhimah,

former manager of the Libyan Arab airlines office in Malta, to the suitcase

bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103.  The United States and Britain

issued warrants for the arrest of these Libyan agents in November 1991.



Libyan agents are also being sought by the French government in connection

with the bombing of UTA flight 772 in 1989 -- a savage act of terrorism

that cost the lives of 171 one people.



In defiance of the U.N. Security Council, Libya's dictator Moammar Qadhafi

continues to harbor the accused terrorists.  In January 1992, the U.N.

Security Council passed Resolution 731 supporting U.S., British, and French

government demands for the surrender of the Libyans connected with the

bombings.  The resolution also required Libya to pay compensation for the

murders and cease all terrorist actions and support for terrorist groups.



When the Qadhafi regime failed to comply with those demands, the U.N.

Security Council imposed sanctions against Libya.  The United States is

investigating all reported violations of those sanctions and is engaged in

an intensive diplomatic effort to ensure that the sanctions are enforced.



The United States will not be satisfied with half-measures.  The United

States will not negotiate the extent of Libya's compliance with the U.N.

Security Council resolutions.  As the U.S. ambassador to the United

1ations, Madeleine Albright, said, "for Libya the question of how, where or

why to comply is irrelevant; the only question that remains is when."



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