Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October 2003, page 31

Special Report

 

Pan Am 103 Settlement Appears Near—But Questions Remain

 

By Andrew I. Killgore

Libya has placed $2.7 billion into a compensation account to pay the relatives of the 270 people who lost their lives in the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988. When the United Nations lifts its sanctions against Libya, $4 million is to be paid to the relatives of each victim, $4 million more when the United States ends its sanctions, and the final $2 million when the U.S. removes Libya from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The United Nations is prepared to act almost immediately, but will temporarily delay because France is asking Libya to pay more than the $35 million France originally accepted for the loss of a French airliner that blew up over Africa in 1989, after France intervened against Libya in its border war with Chad. That crash took the lives of 170 people.

Present indications are that Washington will not lift U.S. sanctions. Unless it does so, however, the rest of the compensation money will revert to Libya. There is even more U.S. resistance to removing Libya from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The U.S. is under pressure from commercial interests to lift its sanctions. Four American oil companies—Occidental, Amerada Hess, Conoco Philips and Marathon—hold oil concessions that eventually could be revoked if the sanctions are not lifted. And Libya is one of the most promising sites for further oil exploration, with non-U.S. companies now pursuing more than 100 exploration licenses, according to the Aug. 21 Financial Times.

Another argument for lifting U.S. sanctions is advanced by Chester Crocker, former assistant secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. "At a time when anti-Americanism is on the rise in so much of the Muslim world," Crocker notes, "the U.S. has a significant interest in successfully graduating Libya out of the 'rogue state' category."

Lockerbie has a tangled history. Dr. Robert Black, professor of criminal law at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and mastermind of the unique legal arrangements for trying Libyans under Scottish law in The Netherlands, does not believe that Abdel Basset Ali al-Meghrahi, convicted by the special court in January 2001, is guilty. Black finds inadequate "proof" that the bomb was loaded in Malta and transferred to Pan Am 103 after a stopover in Frankfurt.

Basically, Black believes the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103 was loaded aboard at London. Dr. Jim Swire, who lost his daughter, Flora, in the crash and who is spokesman for all, or some, of the Britons who lost relatives aboard Pan Am 103, also believes London was the place of origin of the bomb. By definition—and profession—those who favor London as the origin of the bomb do not believe Libya is guilty.

As far as Muammar al-Qaddafi is concerned, the $2.7 billion price of reparations is cheaper for Libya than the cost of sanctions. When the Washington Report visited Libya in November 2000 the cost of sanctions to the country was brought home. Everything looked seedy and was out of date. No state-of-the-art computers could be purchased because all had at least one American component. The oil industry was at a standstill because of the lack of American know-how and capital.

According to Dr. Black, the lawyers for al-Meghrahi are preparing another appeal, this time to the Scottish Criminal Law Review Commission. They will argue that Meghrahi received an inadequate defense. If the Commission agrees, that will throw the case wide open.

Black believes that 10 powerful British families could pressure their government into holding a major national inquiry as to who downed Pan Am 103 and what the motive was.

Andrew I. Killgore is publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

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