Lockerbie trial closer as Gaddafi agrees Cook plan

THE DEADLOCK over handing over the two Libyans suspected of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing may have finally been broken. International mediators say the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has accepted a new proposal from the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, to allow UN officials to supervise the men if they are jailed.

The Foreign Secretary welcomed the breakthrough yesterday. "We now look as if we are closer to that than we've ever been before," he said. "It has been seven months of hard effort, but at least it looks as though we could be approaching the endgame."

The two suspects, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, are accused of planting the bomb that killed 270 people 10 years ago. The British and Americans have been pressing Libya to hand over the men for trial since they were formally charged in 1991.

Last summer, Colonel Gaddafi accepted in principle to deliver the suspects after agreement was reached that the trial could be held in a neutral country - the Netherlands. The stumbling block remained - where the men would serve any sentence, if found guilty.

The mediators, President Nelson Mandela's aide, Jake Gerwal, and a Saudi diplomat, Rihab Massoud, visited Colonel Gaddafi last week.

Mr Cook said: "I saw Mr Gerwal and Mr Massoud on Monday before they departed for Tripoli. I sent through them a clear message that we could not compromise the principle that the two men should serve any sentence in Scotland, but we were very willing to explore with Kofi Annan the full involvement of the UN in supervising a separate prison wing. Mr Gerwal and Mr Massoud reported on Thursday that this could be the basis of agreement."

There have already been negotiations for special arrangements for the men's religious and dietary needs if they were imprisoned.

It has been also agreed that Libyan diplomats could be based in Glasgow to represent the men. But Foreign Office sources say the offer of UN supervision at the prison seems to have broken the recent impasse.

The head of Kofi Annan's office, Iqbal Riza, is to write to the Libyan leader to ask for an explicit agreement to the trial in the Netherlands.

But Mr Cook cautioned: "I am not going to let out any sigh of relief until the two suspects land in the Netherlands."

Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the Lockerbie bombing said: "I think the trial is going to happen. But I am not sure the Americans will sign the agreement. I don't think the American want this trial and have not agreed to the trial in a neutral country." The UN are due to review the sanctions against Libya on 26 February. Sanctions has been in place since Libya refused to hand over the two men seven years ago. While Britain has never put a deadline on reaching agreement with the Libyan government to hand over the suspects, the Americans have indicated that they would ask for tightening of sanctions if the Libyans had not complied.

In South Africa, a statement from President Mandela's office also said there had been progress toward resolving the issue. "We are happy to be able to announce that positive results were achieved in these discussions and that common understanding was reached on all the outstanding issues on this matter," a statement said.

Earlier this month, the Saudia ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar, visited Libya and held talks with Colonel Gaddafi in what appeared to be a final attempt for a solution before the United States and Britain proposed new sanctions against Libya.