Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

UN lifts Libya sanctions

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • UN lifts Libya sanctions

    Source: BBC

    BBC, News, BBC News, news online, world, uk, international, foreign, british, online, service


    UN lifts Libya sanctions


    The bombing of Flight 103 in 1988 killed 270 people
    The United Nations Security Council has voted to lift more than a decade of sanctions against Libya.
    The move clears the way for the payment of compensation to families of the victims of the bombing of a Pan Am jet above the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

    Libyan state radio hailed the vote as a "victory" which opened a "new page" in Tripoli's drive to normalise relations with the West.

    France had threatened to oppose the draft resolution, but abstained in the vote after Libya agreed to increase compensation payments to relatives of those who died when a French airliner was bombed over Africa in 1989.

    There were 13 votes for the draft resolution, none against, and two abstentions - the other being the US which was set to maintain its own separate sanctions on Libya.

    UN SANCTIONS
    Imposed in 1992 and 1993
    Forbade aircraft movements to or from Libya unless UN approved
    Banned sale of aircraft equipment/parts
    Halted operation of Libyan Arab Airlines office abroad
    Banned sale of arms, military equipment
    Limited diplomatic staff in Libya
    Froze Libya's assets abroad
    Banned sale of oil-related equipment
    Suspended in 1999


    Analysis: Libya pays a price

    "The United States continues to have serious concerns about other aspects of Libyan behaviour," James Cunningham, the deputy US ambassador to the Council, said.

    UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw welcomed the "result of patient but firm diplomacy".

    "This is a result of Libya doing what the Security Council has demanded: accept responsibility for the horrendous Lockerbie bombing in 1988...; renounce terrorism; pay compensation; and undertake to co-operate with any future Lockerbie investigation."

    Rebuilding relations

    BBC News Online world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says the lifting of UN sanctions means that Libya has largely, though not wholly, emerged from its long period of international isolation.

    The sanctions - a ban on flights and sales of some oil equipment and the freezing of some Libyan assets - were suspended in 1999 when Libya handed over two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing.

    Their formal removal will help Libya's new policy of trying to repair its external relations, our correspondent adds.


    Libya's leader is keen to secure foreign investment in Libya
    Libya called for all nations to open a dialogue with Tripoli, and said it was "committed to world peace".

    Mohammad al-Zuai, the official in charge of the Lockerbie negotiations, said: "We welcome the Security Council decision, which shows that Libya has kept all its promises and respects international law and legality".

    Libya has agreed to pay $2.7bn in damages to relatives of the Lockerbie victims, but the sum was considerably more than the $34m paid to victims of the downed French plane in 1999.

    Embarrassed, France threatened to veto the resolution at the UN unless Libya revised the settlement figure.

    Judicial claims 'dropped'

    After negotiations, Libya reportedly offered to pay up to an additional $1m to the French families.

    Libya has never accepted responsibility for the downing of the UTA flight above Niger which claimed 170 lives, but agreed to pay compensation after a Paris court convicted six Libyans of the bombing in absentia.

    The compensation agreement will mean France drops all judicial claims against Libyans, Libya's official news agency Jana reported.

    The BBC's David Bamford says there is a sense of relief in Washington that the last-minute intervention by the French Government did not throw the negotiated deal with Libya completely off course.

    France has done itself no favours as far as American public opinion is concerned, particularly in the wake of its stringent opposition to US policies in Iraq, our correspondent says.

    The UN sanctions were imposed in the early 1990s to pressure Libya into handing over two men suspected of involvement in the Lockerbie bombing.

    They were suspended in 1999 after Libya handed over the two suspects for trial.

    This means that my neighbour two blocks away will get several million dollars in damage for their daughter who was killed in Lockerbie. They will become the richest family in my home town, by far. But they would rather want their daughter back.
    So get your Naomi Klein books and move it or I'll seriously bash your faces in! - Supercitizen to stupid students
    Be kind to the nerdiest guy in school. He will be your boss when you've grown up!

  • #2
    Kadaffy has calmed much since getting his home rocketed.
    Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
    "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
    He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

    Comment


    • #3
      Me and Gadafi, we have it all figured out... but nobody listens, nobody ever does..

      Comment


      • #4
        France must have been able to extort thier own pound of flesh from Libya. The last I heard they were holding this deal up.
        I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
        For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

        Comment


        • #5
          Not France! They wouldn't hold up anything,would they ?
          Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
          "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
          He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

          Comment


          • #6
            Hehe, yeah Slow, they are the ones who are for morality and decency, right?
            “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
            - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

            Comment


            • #7
              I think the French were right to push their position. After all, the Libyans blow up a French airliner too.
              So get your Naomi Klein books and move it or I'll seriously bash your faces in! - Supercitizen to stupid students
              Be kind to the nerdiest guy in school. He will be your boss when you've grown up!

              Comment


              • #8
                Well if normalization of Libya's relations with the international community is the result, the this is great.

                More democracy, more wealth = less terrorism.

                Comment


                • #9
                  paiktis, with some people wealth means zilch.
                  Bin Laden's family is enormously wealthy.
                  Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
                  "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
                  He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    On a wide social scale Sloww, not wealth for a few indivinduals.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
                      I think the French were right to push their position. After all, the Libyans blow up a French airliner too.
                      IIRC, a settlement had already been reached with Libya previously. The French were pushing to fatten that one up substantially.
                      I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
                      For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by DinoDoc
                        IIRC, a settlement had already been reached with Libya previously. The French were pushing to fatten that one up substantially.
                        To make a French life worth as much as an American life. What's your problem with that?
                        So get your Naomi Klein books and move it or I'll seriously bash your faces in! - Supercitizen to stupid students
                        Be kind to the nerdiest guy in school. He will be your boss when you've grown up!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          That it was uselessly holding up an important deal.
                          I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
                          For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            With that logic, the US should have negotiated a lower price then, the same as the French.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Do you seriously think Libya would have accepted the French demands if they had come AFTER the sanctions had been lifted? France did the only right thing. America is not the centre of the world.
                              So get your Naomi Klein books and move it or I'll seriously bash your faces in! - Supercitizen to stupid students
                              Be kind to the nerdiest guy in school. He will be your boss when you've grown up!

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X