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From: C-afp@clari.net (AFP)
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Subject: US skeptical on Libya's agreement on Lockerbie suspects
Organization: Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Message-ID: <Qlockerbie-usUReKS_9FG.RAkC_9FG@clari.net>
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 8:35:42 PST
ACategory: usa
Slugword: Lockerbie-US
Threadword: lockerbie
Priority: urgent
Note: (ADDS State Department comments)
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   WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (AFP) - The United States was skeptical  
Tuesday that Libya is close to a deal for turning over two of its 
nationals suspected in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. 
   "I'm not sure I can interpret what the latest soundings are,"  
said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart after reports Saudi and 
South African mediators brokered a deal that could lead to the 
transfer of two Libyan suspects to the Netherlands for trial. 
   Lockhart pointed to previous offers which broke down in  
negotiations over the suspects, who are accused of killing 270 
people in a Pan Am airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland in 
1988. 
   "I think the Libyan government knows what it needs to do and the  
time is long overdue that the suspects are turned over and brought 
to justice," Lockhart said. 
   Libya said Saturday that mediation efforts by Saudi Arabia and  
South Africa had led to "positive results." 
   Rihab Massoud, the deputy chief of mission to the Saudi embassy  
in Washington also informed UN chief Kofi Annan on Friday that "all 
outstanding issues have been resolved." 
   But the US State Department echoed the White House's caution on  
the matter, saying it would not believe Libya had agreed to turn the 
pair over until it had actually been done. 
   "If indeed Libya transfers the suspects to Secretary General  
Annan for a Scottish trial in the Netherlands, we will be very 
pleased," spokesman James Foley told reporters. 
   "Of course, we have been skeptical until now because Libya has  
dragged its feet and looked for excuses not to meet its obligations. 
But if in fact they do transfer the suspects, we will be pleased." 
   Until now, Libya had balked at British and US insistence that  
the pair -- Abdel Basset Ali el-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah 
-- should be jailed in a Scottish prison, apparently fearing they 
could be debriefed by British intelligence. 
   The disputes concern where the suspects will be imprisoned if  
found guilty, and Libya's insistence that UN sanctions should be 
lifted rather than simply suspended as the UN Security Council 
proposed in August. 
   The United Nations imposed an air and arms embargo on Libya in  
1992 for its refusal to extradite the two Libyan suspects. 
  	   	

