ACCESSION
NUMBER:372930
FILE ID:TXT501
DATE:12/30/94
TITLE:JUSTICE FOR PAN AM 103 (12/30/94)
TEXT:*94123001.TXT
JUSTICE FOR PAN AM 103
(VOA Editorial) (350)
(Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America December 30,
expressing the policies of the U.S. government.)
This month marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most barbaric acts of
international terrorism in recent times. On December 21, 1988, a bomb
exploded aboard Pan American flight 103, 31,000 feet above the quiet
Scottish village of Lockerbie. Two-hundred seventy men, women, and
children, from 30 nations, were murdered.
Authorities in the United States and Britain have evidence linking Abd
al-Basit al-Maqrahi a senior Libyan intelligence officer and Lamin Fhimah,
former manager of the Libyan Arab airlines office in Malta, to the suitcase
bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103. The United States and Britain
issued warrants for the arrest of these Libyan agents in November 1991.
Libyan agents are also being sought by the French government in connection
with the bombing of UTA flight 772 in 1989 -- a savage act of terrorism
that cost the lives of 171 one people.
In defiance of the U.N. Security Council, Libya's dictator Moammar Qadhafi
continues to harbor the accused terrorists. In January 1992, the U.N.
Security Council passed Resolution 731 supporting U.S., British, and French
government demands for the surrender of the Libyans connected with the
bombings. The resolution also required Libya to pay compensation for the
murders and cease all terrorist actions and support for terrorist groups.
When the Qadhafi regime failed to comply with those demands, the U.N.
Security Council imposed sanctions against Libya. The United States is
investigating all reported violations of those sanctions and is engaged in
an intensive diplomatic effort to ensure that the sanctions are enforced.
The United States will not be satisfied with half-measures. The United
States will not negotiate the extent of Libya's compliance with the U.N.
Security Council resolutions. As the U.S. ambassador to the United
1ations, Madeleine Albright, said, "for Libya the question of how, where or
why to comply is irrelevant; the only question that remains is when."
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