Libya Offers to Give Up Suspects to Arab League

Trying to avert United Nations sanctions, Libya made a hedged promise Monday to deliver the two suspects in the terrorist bombing of Pan American World Airways Flight 103 to officials of the Arab League.

While the promise raised some suspicions and failed to satisfy the Bush Administration, it bolstered a campaign to delay consideration by the Security Council of a resolution imposing sanctions on Libya. That resolution already had encountered other snags, including opposition from the Chinese, who, as permanent members of the council, have veto power in the Security Council.

Speaking with reporters in corridors at the United Nations, Libyan Ambassador Ahmed Elhouderi said that his government would surrender the two men.

“For our part, we are handing them over to the Arab League,” he said. “I am confirming the decision has been taken. It is not just rumor.”

But a State Department official derided the offer.

“There’s nothing clear about the Libyan proposal,” he said. “Certainly it doesn’t comply with the U.N. demands. The Libyan statements are so vaguely phrased that it looks like a third-party dodge.”

But Venezuelan Ambassador Diego Arria, president of the Security Council this month, took a more positive view. He said he understands that the suspects would be “unconditionally surrendered” to both the Arab League and U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and that the move means they “most definitely” could be extradited to the United States or Britain for trial.

Ambassador Elhouderi said that the Arab League could decide what to do with the two men, who are charged with the December, 1988, bombing of the jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.

Both the American and British governments have made it clear that they would not oppose a transfer to the Arab League as long as the suspects eventually end up in either the United States or Britain for trial.

“What we want to see is the people in court,” the State Department official said. “We don’t care how they get there.”

But it is not clear how soon Libya intends to give the suspects to the Arab League. News reports indicated that Libya had told foreign diplomats in Tripoli that it would transfer the men after the International Court of Justice issues a ruling in the case. The court is meeting in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Thursday to decide whether to consider a contention by Libya that the Security Council does not have jurisdiction in the matter. If the court decides to hear the case, it could take months or even years for a final decision.

The U.S., British and French governments have introduced a resolution that would impose sanctions against Libya for failing to cooperate with investigations into both the Lockerbie bombing and into the bombing of a French UTA airliner over Niger in 1989. That crash, also blamed on Libyan agents, killed 171 people.

The resolution calls for all countries to halt air traffic in and out of Libya, stop the sale of arms to that country and reduce the numbers of Libyan diplomats allowed in capitals throughout the world.

Last week, the United States, France and several other European governments urged their citizens to leave Libya, but the latest Libyan maneuver is delaying passage of the resolution.

While calling the Libyan proposal unclear, French Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee said it “would put the resolution on hold.” But he said that Libya would have to clarify its intentions quickly. If it fails to do so, he continued, the delay in taking up the resolution “would not be a matter of months, not even weeks.”

There were other problems for the resolution. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen told a news conference: “We are not in favor of the Security Council moving to impose sanctions against Libya because instead of facilitating a settlement, it could only aggravate regional tensions and result in serious consequences.”

This does not necessarily presage a veto of the resolution in the Security Council but it surely means that China, at best, is likely to abstain.

The resolution also is endangered by the attitude of the 21-nation Arab League, which met in an emergency session in Cairo on Sunday. Although members were urging Libya to turn over the two suspects, the league also asked the Security Council not to impose sanctions until the case is decided by the International Court of Justice.

This kind of delay, however, is opposed by the Bush Administration.

“The resolution is under the United Nations Security Council, not under the International Court of Justice,” State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said, “and under the U.N. Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

According to Arab diplomats, the face-saving compromise of persuading Libya to turn the suspects over to the league was proposed by Boutros-Ghali to Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel-Meguid.