U.S. to ‘Test the Waters’ for Libya Oil Embargo

The White House, acknowledging its chances of success are almost nil, announced plans Tuesday “to press the case vigorously” for a United Nations oil embargo against Libya for its refusal to turn over two agents accused of killing 270 people by bombing a Pan American Airlines jetliner over Scotland in 1988.

But a U.S. official said the Clinton Administration campaign had not reached the point of preparing a resolution to place before the Security Council in New York.

Instead, he said, U.S. diplomats intend to “test the waters” when the council reviews existing sanctions against Libya sometime later this week.

“By highlighting the issue of Libyan noncompliance with Security Council resolutions,” he said, “we hope to get other countries to focus on the issue. That should generate support for tougher measures, which could include, if not an oil embargo, the garnisheeing of profits that Libya made from its sales.”

Although dropping hints from time to time that he might hand the accused men to U.S. or British authorities, Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi has refused to give them up.

The White House pledged to seek an oil embargo after National Security Adviser Anthony Lake promised victims’ families in a meeting Monday night that Washington will strengthen the punishment of Libya for failing to turn the agents over for a Western trial.

In 1992, the Security Council passed a resolution prohibiting all commercial flights in and out of Libya, banning the sale of arms to Tripoli and calling on all governments to slash the number of diplomats in the country.

The George Bush Administration, which introduced this resolution, was shocked when it passed with only 10 votes in favor, just one more than the nine required for approval.

Since then, the Clinton Administration has discussed the possibility on several occasions of strengthening the sanctions with an oil embargo.

But it has never gotten enough support to warrant attempting to put a resolution before the council.

The lack of support is probably attributable to European dependence on Libyan oil and the feeling by some Third World countries that Libya has been punished enough.

In its periodic sessions on Libyan sanctions, the council has always kept them in place because of Kadafi’s continued refusal to turn over the suspects. The council is expected to do the same this week.

In a statement carried by the official Libyan news agency, Kadafi said he intends to flout the ban on air travel and send Libyan planes to Saudi Arabia with pilgrims for Mecca in April and May.

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White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry acknowledged the difficulty of persuading the Security Council to toughen sanctions: “We are under no illusion that it’s going to be an easy effort. But at the same time we want to make a very persuasive case because there’s been absolutely no progress in seeing these two suspects turned over as required by the United Nations.

“We believe by . . . reminding our Security Council partners and others in the United Nations that there has been no progress,” he said, “we will at least, perhaps, make them more receptive over time to the need to toughen these sanctions.”

Pan Am Flight 103 was en route from Frankfurt, Germany, to New York on Dec. 21, 1988, after a stop in London, when a bomb hidden in the luggage compartment blew up as the jet flew over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Boeing 747 airliner broke apart and crashed, killing all 259 passengers and 11 people on the ground.