Gaddafi 'deal' on Libyan suspects

David Usborne
Friday 04 December 1998 01:02 GMT
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HOPES WERE rising yesterday for an agreement on the delivery of two Libyan suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to stand trial in the Netherlands, following confirmation from the United Nations Secretary General, that he is to hold talks with Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, tomorrow.

"Yes, I will got to Libya on Saturday," Kofi Annan said while on a visit to the Tunisian capital, Tunis, yesterday. "We are going to look at a solutions to the problem." Asked whether he expected to meet with Mr Gaddafi, Mr Annan answered: "I believe so".

Deadlock over the two Libyans, Abdel Basset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, showed signs of ending in August when Britain and the United States agreed to allow the pair to be tried outside the US or Scotland. Both governments offered The Hague as the venue for a trial, though it would be presided over by Scottish judges. Since then, negotiations between Libya and the United Nations have become snarled up in detail.

In exchange for surrendering the two men, Libya would finally be relieved of the UN sanctions that have effectively isolated it from the rest of the world, for example by banning flights to and from it.

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