Libya admits civil responsibility for Lockerbie
Libya is willing to pay more than £1.5bn (€2.25bn) to the families of victims of Pan Am Flight 103 after accepting “civil responsibility” for the 1988 explosion over Lockerbie.
Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said the pay-out was agreed in talks last month between Libya and lawyers representing the families.
The family of each of the 270 victims will receive about £6m (€8.5m) in three instalments, he said.
After the first payment of £2.5m (€3.6n) UN sanctions on Libya will be lifted, he claimed.
After a second £2.5m (€3.6m) payment, US sanctions will go and after the final, smaller payment, Washington would have to remove Libya from its list of states sponsoring terrorism, he said.
The foreign office said it had received no confirmation from Libya itself about a final agreement about paying the Lockerbie victims. There was no immediate comment from Washington.
The figures match those lawyers for the families said Libya had agreed to pay in March, after the last meeting with British, US and Libyan officials.
Family members of victims said then that they were told by a US State Department official that Libya was close to acknowledging responsibility.
The State Department has said only that the March 11 meeting was useful and that progress was made.
According to UN resolutions, Libya must acknowledge responsibility for the December 21, 1988, explosion, pay fair compensation, renounce terrorism and disclose all it knows about the explosion.
It was not clear whether Shalqam’s announcement that Libya will “bear the civil responsibility for the actions of its employees” would suffice for acknowledging responsibility.
But Shalqam was optimistic, saying Libyan authorities had already started to collect donations “from businessmen and companies in and outside Libya” to pay the compensation.
“Libya will work hard to draw an end to that issue during the coming period,” he said.
A UN Security Council resolution passed in 1992 banned arms sales and air links to Libya to force it to hand over the two Libyans indicted in the Lockerbie bombing.
After the men were handed over in 1999, the sanctions were suspended, but not lifted.
In 2001, a Scottish court convicted a Libyan intelligence agent, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, of the bombing and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Libya surrendered al-Megrahi over for trial after lengthy negotiations.
A second Libyan was acquitted.
