World

Still No Lockerbie Deal

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 5, 1998 / 12:43 PM EST / CBS

Libya on Sunday poured cold water over U.S. and British hopes for a handover of the Lockerbie suspects before the 10th anniversary of the bombing of an American airliner over Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988.

"The Lockerbie problem is an invented and complicated one and it is not logical and reasonable to solve it under the pressure of what is called the 10th anniversary of the Pan Am accident," wrote the diplomatic editor of the official news agency JANA.

The editor, whose comments generally reflect the views of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, played down the significance of Saturday's meeting between Gaddafi and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"Kofi Annan did not hold talks with the brother leader of the revolution. He merely went to see him where he was in the Libyan desert, to salute him and greet him on his recovery," he said.

However, Annan said after meeting with Gadaffi that he was "cautiously optimistic" a deal could be reached setting the stage for a trial.

"We are well on the way to resolving the problem," Annan told Secretary of State Madeleine Albright by telephone on Sunday, according to a U.N. statement.

However, it was not immediately clear what progress the world's top diplomat made in his bid to convince Libya to accept a U.S.-British plan to try two alleged Libyan intelligence agents in a neutral court in the Netherlands. The two suspects are accused of blowing up a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish village of Lockerbie in 1988.

The United States and Britain are keen to see the two men turned over before the Dec. 21 anniversary.

A Libyan official said earlier on Sunday he expected a lengthy parliamentary debate on the possible handover of the two suspects following Annan's intervention in the dispute.

"Normally a debate in the General People's Congress takes three to 10 days, depending on what foreign or domestic issues are on the agenda," said the official. "Sometimes it takes 10 days of debate and when they finish we take a final decision."

Even after congress approval, any surrender of the two men would require unspecified "arrangements," he said.

The congress is due to start a five-day session on Tuesday.

Annan said after meeting Gaddafi on Saturday that he hoped for "good news" soon, but said Libya's complex decision-making process meant a final agreement needed more time.

In London, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook voiced some optimism about what Annan had told him of his trip to Libya.

"I think I am very encouraged by what he tells me. Neither of us is going to predict what Colonel Gaddafi is going to do, but I think you can sum up our mood as one of qualified optimism," Cook told BBC television on Sunday.

Britain insists that it had no "hidden agenda" in pressing to bring the two suspects to trial.

The United States said it was disapponted at the failure to secure a clear-cut agreement on the handover of the two Libyans, Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah.

Libya's foreign minister, Omar Mustapha al-Montasser, said there would be "positive results very soon."

Gaddafi, Libya's undisputed leader, has no formal powers of decision-making. "I think Colonel Gaddafi has considerable authority," said Annan when asked if the Libyan leader could order the indicted pair to be surrendered for trial.

Al-Zahf al-Akhdar, a government newspaper, said on Sunday the United States wanted to impose its will on Libya.

"The issue here is not Lockerbie, but one of imposing on free countries. America's main interest is not the Pan Am victims and their families but Libya escaping from its control."

Libya, which has been under U.N. sanctions since 1992 for refusing to hand over the suspects, has agreed that they be put on trial before a special Scottish court in the Netherlands, but has objected to U.S. and British demands that if convicted they should serve their sentences in Scotland.