Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (862)	12/2/1998 9:16:00 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2742

Diplomats: Kofi Annan Close To Lockerbie Deal With Libya Wednesday December 2 By Rawhi Abeidoh ALGIERS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is close to a deal with Tripoli for it to surrender two suspects for trial over the Lockerbie bombing and may visit Libya at the weekend, diplomats said Wednesday. Annan told a news conference before leaving Algiers for Tunis Wednesday: ''I'm in contact with the authorities of Tripoli and it may happen that I go there on a visit after visiting Tunis.'' He added that the U.N. Security Council had asked him to ''arrange with the Libyan government the departure of the two suspects to the Hague'' in the Netherlands. At the United Nations, one diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity said Annan would not go to Libya until he was ''reasonably satisfied it is gong to be worth it and he is working hard on this.'' Diplomats who are familiar with weeks of talks with Libyan authorities said Annan would fly to Libya Saturday and might sign the deal after talks with the North African country's leader Muammar Gaddafi. ''It's not a done deal yet, but it's close,'' said one diplomat who declined to be identified. Libya has agreed to put the two nationals -- Abdel Basset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah -- on trial in the Netherlands. But it has refused British and U.S. demands that they serve their sentence in Scotland if convicted. In London, a Foreign Office spokesman told journalists Wednesday that Britain had promised Tripoli unrestricted consular access to the two men if they were jailed in Scotland. Sources in New York said Sunday that Annan's decision to travel to Libya would depend on Gaddafi's agreement to surrender the two suspects. At Wednesday's news conference, Annan said: ''Libyan lawyers and the (U.N.) legal team have done a very good work. A group of Libyan lawyers spent several weeks in New York. They demanded some clarifications on judicial and practical aspects and they received all of them. ''I had hoped we would have settled this issue before the end of November. But unfortunately it was not the case,'' he added without elaborating. The diplomats said the negotiations were extremely detailed, sorting out such matters as which country would provide the plane that would carry the two suspects from Libya. Libya is under U.N. sanctions that include a ban on flights to and from the North African country since 1992 after it refused to hand over the suspects accused by the United States and Britain of planting a bomb aboard a Pan Am airliner which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. The explosion killed all the 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground. dailynews.yahoo.com