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

To: Tomas who wrote (888)	12/20/1998 1:29:00 AM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 2742

Sunday Times December 20: LIBYA has issued a cheeky response to British-led demands for the handover of its two agents blamed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing: it wants Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher extradited to the desert state for trial as war criminals in return. Despite the bizarre request, the British government was optimistic last night that the issue would soon be resolved - although probably not in time for the 10th anniversary tomorrow of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town, in which 270 people died. Hopes were raised by a statement issued last week at the closing session of the General People's Congress, which in name - if not in practice - rules Libya. Despite their demand for the trial of the former American and British leaders, delegates also approved a British initiative to try the two Libyan suspects at a Scottish court in the Hague. Reagan, as American president, ordered an air assault on Libya in 1986 in retaliation for the bombing of a Berlin nightclub in which two American soldiers were killed. Thatcher also became a hate figure in Libya because she backed the operation, allowing American planes to use British bases. The last word rests with Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader. He is expected to use the congress's approval for the handover of the two men as a face-saving device to allow him to back down from his earlier insistence that they be tried and imprisoned in Libya. There had been growing indications in recent weeks that Gadaffi would agree to the extradition to the Hague of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, accused of placing the suitcase bomb aboard a connecting flight in Malta. Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, had made it clear that he hoped to resolve the issue by Monday's anniversary but did not see it as a deadline. Libyan sources said last week's raids on Iraq, although not destroying the agreement, could delay it. British participation in an attack on an Arab country would make it virtually impossible for Gadaffi, a vocal champion of Arab unity, to be seen to be co-operating with the government. A further complication has arisen because of the start this weekend of Ramadan. Western sources said Libya might balk at taking the two men from their families during the Muslim holy month. It could reach an agreement with Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, on a date to surrrender them after the holiday, however. The Libyan leader long delayed handing over the two men apparently out of fear that their trial could be used to expose the participation of high-level Libyan officials in terrorism. His anxiety appears to have been assuaged by a British reassurance that there is no "hidden agenda". Gadaffi is anxious to conclude a deal because he wants an end to sanctions imposed on Libya in 1992 to force him to hand over the two men. Annan assured Gadaffi earlier this month that sanctions would be suspended and effectively lifted once the two men were in custody. By Marie Colvin