US-Libya Ties Become a Possibility
By GEORGE GEDDA Associated Press Writer
January 26
WASHINGTON (AP) - Indications that Libya has backed away from its extended history of radical policies are being carefully monitored by U.S. officials, who say they are no longer inflexibly opposed to a new relationship with the oil-rich North African country.
``Change can now be imagined,' says Ronald Neumann, a top aide in the State Department's Middle East bureau. But, he says, an accommodation with Libya ``is not necessarily a near-term likelihood.'
U.S. willingness to reassess its policies is based largely on the decision of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last spring to allow two suspects wanted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to be tried by a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands.
Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, alleged Libyan intelligence agents, are charged with murder and conspiracy to murder in the Dec. 21, 1988, deaths of 259 people aboard the jetliner and 11 residents of the Scottish village of Lockerbie.
In the context of U.S.-Libyan relations, the surrender of the two suspects was an ``important threshold,' says Herman Cohen, a former ambassador who advocates reconciliation with Libya.
Neumann, who commented on the matter in a little-noticed speech in Washington late last year, said Libya also has expelled the Abu Nidal Organization, a militant anti-Israel group, from the country.
Neumann called this a ``serious, credible step' by Libya ``to reduce its involvement with that terrorist organization.'
He also took heart in Libya's decision to transfer its support from the ANO and like-minded groups to Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat, who has been seeking a settlement with Israel.
While characterizing these new policies as ``real and constructive changes,' Neumann said, ``much of the rhetoric that we see from Libya's leadership remains unchanged.
``As a result, we are uncertain about Libya's real intentions,' he said.
Still, the possibility of an accommodation seemed out of the question not long ago. The two countries have been at loggerheads for most of Gadhafi's 30 years in power. Libya was the target of attacks by U.S. fighter planes twice during the 1980's.
Neumann said a key test of Libya's intentions will be whether it complies with U.N. Security Council requirements growing out of the Pan Am 103 bombing.
The requirements include payment of appropriate compensation to families of the victims, cooperation with the Pan Am 103 investigation and trial, acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and a ``renunciation and end to support of terrorism and terrorist groups.'
Neumann also said that unilateral U.S. sanctions against Libya, including restrictions on trade and travel, also will remain in place at least until the U.N. requirements are met.
A restoration of normal ties with Libya would allow the return of U.S. oil companies to Libya for the first time since 1986. European companies have been operating there without U.S. competition since then.
Neumann noted that there have been other sources of contention with Libya, including its efforts to obtain missiles and weapons of mass destruction.
``We continue to want Libya to find a way to address these concerns,' he said.
Cohen, the former U.S. official, believes Gadhafi has turned over a new leaf. There was a time, Cohen recalled, when Gadhafi would give arms ``to any revolutionary who came to his door,' including the Irish Republican Army.
Those days are gone, Cohen says, adding that no terrorist incident has been traceable to Libya over the past five years. But Libya, along with six other counties, remains on the State Department list of sponsors of international terrorism.
Since surrendering the two suspects for trial, many European countries have reinforced diplomatic and trade ties with Libya. But efforts by Gadhafi to wrangle an invitation from the European Union for a visit to its headquarters in Brussels fell through over the weekend. The EU said conditions are not right for a ``prompt and constructive visit.'
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EDITOR'S NOTE - George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The Associated Press since 1968.
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