Arab League Urges Permanent Removal of Sanctions Against Libya
By Walter Pfaeffle
New York, Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Arab League urged today that United Nations sanctions against Libya be lifted ``immediately and definitively'' on grounds that Tripoli complied with U.S. and British demands to hand over two suspects in the 1988 Pan American Airways bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The league, along with the Organization of African Unity, ``deeply regrets the fact that the (UN) Security Council failed to adopt a resolution lifting the sanctions'' after a report from the U.N. Secretary-General found that Libya had discharged all of its obligations, said a letter from the league to the council.
The Arab League letter to the council was signed by the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia, which constitute the League's ``Committee of Seven'' dealing with the Libya issue.
Despite Libya's full compliance, the letter says, the council hasn't yet lifted the sanctions.
They cited a 1993 council resolution, endorsed in 1998, which spoke of lifting the sanctions once Libya had fully complied with the council's demands, after receipt of a report from Secretary-General Kofi Annan 90 days after their suspension.
``The deepening suspicions of the Libyans are justified, and it is understandable that their patience is becoming exhausted,'' the letter said. ``The circumstances are such as to justify the positions they are adopting, and the League is entitled to express its deep concern at the situation.''
In July 1999 the Security Council complimented the Libyan government for its cooperation in the Lockerbie case but the United States blocked a bid by six developing countries to lift the sanctions immediately.
The U.S. envoy at the time, ambassador Peter Burleigh, said it would be hard to make a judgement ``until the trial, at least, has begun'' and that it would easier to make a decision ''once the trial is over.'' The trial began in May this year and is continuing. |
