Posted on 08/20/2003 11:50:24 AM PDT by Bryan
Libya has begun to transfer the $2.7bn compensation it has agreed to pay to the families of those killed in the Lockerbie airliner bombing, US officials say. "Because it is such a large sum, it will not be deposited all at once. Some will go in tomorrow (Thursday). Some could go in Friday," an unnamed official told Reuters news agency.
The cash is being paid into an account at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basle, Switzerland.
Last week, Libya accepted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland and agreed to pay up to $10m to each of the families of the victims.
Britain and Bulgaria have now co-sponsored a resolution for the removal of UN sanctions against Libya imposed in 1992 over Lockerbie.
On Wednesday, Bulgaria dismissed suggestions that there was any link between its involvement in tabling the motion, and a court case in Libya against a number of Bulgarian medical staff accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV.
In another development, diplomatic sources at the UN said any vote on lifting the sanctions was likely to be delayed until next week.
Another hurdle
If the vote goes its way, Libya will make an initial payment of $4m to each family.
A further $4m will follow when US sanctions are dropped and the final $2m when Libya is removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The attack claimed the lives of 259 passengers and crew and 11 residents of the Scottish town.
UN sanctions were suspended in 1999 after the country handed over two suspects in the Lockerbie crash.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 for his role in the bombing.
However in its efforts to get sanctions against it lifted, Libya also faces another hurdle.
France has said any deal must include increased compensation for families of 170 people killed when a French airliner was blown up in 1989 - an act for which Libya has been blamed.
'Saving face'
Bulgaria denied on Wednesday that its co-sponsorship of the UN vote was directly linked to the trial in Libya of six Bulgarian medical staff accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV.
The Bulgarians were arrested four years ago after 400 children became infected. More than 20 have since died.
Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi said there was no direct link between the UN motion and the court case in Libya.
However BBC regional analyst Jan Repa says that as with the Lockerbie case, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi seems to be looking for a way out without losing face and the case will probably now be dropped.
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bigotry \Big"ot*ry\, n. [Cf. F. bigoterie.] 1. The state of mind of a bigot; obstinate and unreasoning attachment of one's own belief and opinions, with narrow-minded intolerance of beliefs opposed to them.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
We know a man whose son was killed in the Lockerbie; God bless him, if he and a few others hadn't kept pounding on this case, Libya would have never have been held accountable.
Here's to changing hearts and minds in Africa.
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