ACCESSION
NUMBER:356879
FILE ID:TXT101
DATE:08/15/94
TITLE:GETTING TOUGH ON LIBYAN TERRORISM (08/15/94)
TEXT:*94081501.TXT
GETTING TOUGH ON LIBYAN TERRORISM
VOA Editorial) (360)
(Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America August 13,
reflecting the views of the U.S. government.)
This month, the U.N. Security Council voted to extend sanctions against the
regime of Libyan dictator Moammar Qadhafi. Sanctions were first imposed in
April 1992 in response to the Qadhafi regime's defiance of Security Council
Resolution 731. That resolution requires Libya to cooperate with the U.S.
and British authorities in the investigation of the 1988 bombing of Pan
American flight 103. Libya is also required to comply with French judicial
requests in the case of the 1989 bombing of UTA flight 772. More than 400
men, women, and children died in those savage acts of international
terrorism.
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 airlines office in Malta, to the suitcase bomb used to destroy
Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. U.S. and British authorities
have issued warrants for the arrest of these Libyan agents. The U.N.
resolution requires Libya to turn over the Lockerbie bombing suspects for
trial in the United States or Britain. Libya is also required to pay
compensation to the relatives of the victims and cease its support for
international terrorism.
In recent months, the Libyan regime has attempted to flout the ruling of the
United Nations by proposing a variety of bizarre legal proceedings --
including bringing the Lockerbie bombing suspects to trial before a
Scottish court in the Netherlands. These proposals are as unworkable as
they are unacceptable. The clear intention of these maneuvers is to buy
time, shift blame and weaken the resolve to the United Nations to punish
Libya for its refusal to cooperate.
As the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, said, "If
Qadhafi is able...to establish what amounts to a statute of limitations on
terrorist mass murder, all international travelers will be endangered."
The United States supports the decision of the U.N. Security Council and
urges all nations to enforce the sanctions against the Qadhafi regime.
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