USA/SCOTLAND: AN AGREEMENT IN WHICH LIBYA WOULD ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 COULD BE REACHED WITHIN WEEKS
Record ID:
647848
USA/SCOTLAND: AN AGREEMENT IN WHICH LIBYA WOULD ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 COULD BE REACHED WITHIN WEEKS
- Title: USA/SCOTLAND: AN AGREEMENT IN WHICH LIBYA WOULD ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 COULD BE REACHED WITHIN WEEKS
- Date: 12th March 2003
- Summary: (W8) WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (MARCH 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SV DAN COHEN, FATHER OF WOMAN KILLED IN PAN AM 103 BOMBING 0.04 2. MCU (English) COHEN SAYING "The very strong feeling is that there is some sort of a statement which is being passed around and this whole thing may be settled within a matter of weeks instead of months. Whether she should accept civil responsibility as opposed to criminal responsibility is not on the table. That is where things seem to be. We don't know a lot more than we did when we went in. If it all seems to be going very fast, if it is." 0.50 (W8) LOCKERBIE, SCOTLAND (FILE) (REUTERS) 3. SLV POLICEMAN WALKING NEAR CRASH SITE 0.58 4. LV FIREFIGHTERS NEAR SITE 1.00 (W8) WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (MARCH 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 5. MCU (English) COHEN SAYING "This is my daughter who was a senior at Syracuse University. She was one of the more than two hundred people murdered on Pan Am103. It is not about money or diplomacy and the world should never be able to forget that. When your child is murdered and the murderer is still out there, there is no such thing as closure." 1.52 (W8) LOCKERBIE, SCOTLAND (FILE) (REUTERS) 6. LV OFFICIALS CARRYING BODY NEAR CRASH SITE 1.55 7. PAN COFFINS IN WAREHOUSE 2.02 8. AERIALS OF CRASH SITE 2.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 27th March 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES/LOCKERBIE, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: Various
- Reuters ID: LVA4ROGPF6O9PD8DGBOT2YT8MJ0W
- Story Text: An agreement in which Libya would accept
responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 could be
reached within weeks, relatives of victims said after meeting
with a top U.S. State Department official.
But family members of the 270 people killed in 1988
when Pan Am 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie
on Wednesday (March 12, 2003) said they were neither shown a draft
Libyan statement they believe was under consideration nor
promised a deal would be cemented.
A source close to talks between Libya, the United States
and Britain told Reuters on Tuesday that Tripoli had agreed to
accept responsibility for the bombing and compensate the
victims' families.
But U.S. officials also said it may be weeks, if ever,
before a final agreement is signed, sealed and announced.
"The very strong feeling is that there is some sort of a
statement which is being passed around and this whole thing
may be settled within a matter of weeks instead of months.
Whether she should accept civil responsibility as opposed to
criminal responsibility is not on the table. That is where
things seem to be. We don't know a lot more than we did when
we went in. If it all seems to be going very fast, if it is,"
said Dan Cohen, whose daughter Theodora, then 20, was killed
in the bombing.
He said lawyers for the families would fly to Paris next
week to set up escrow arrangements for payments that may reach
$10 million U.S dollars per victim, or some $2.7 billion U.S
dollars in total.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met Libyan
and British officials in London on Tuesday.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said U.S.
officials would carefully review "progress" made in the London
talks to see if it satisfied U.N. resolutions on Lockerbie.
"It will take a little while. I think probably days and
weeks" before the evaluation is completed and any deal might
be final, said a senior U.S. official who asked not to be
named.
A deal would end a lingering dispute between the Western
powers and an Arab state shortly before a possible U.S.-led
war against Iraq.
Cohen and other relatives expressed bitterness that the
United States may be on the verge of war with Iraq but close
to a deal with Libya.
"This is my daughter who was a senior at Syracuse
University. She was one of the more than 200 people murdered
on Pan Am 103. It is not about money or diplomacy and the
world should never be able to forget that. When your child is
murdered and the murderer is still out there, there is no such
thing as closure," said Cohen, holding up a picture of his
daughter. "It's not about money. It's not about diplomacy.
It's about the murder of 270 innocent people.
Pan Am 103 exploded in December 1988, killing 259 mostly
American passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground.
Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, handed
over by Tripoli after much wrangling, was convicted of the
crime in 2001. A second defendant was acquitted.
The international community has demanded that Libya accept
responsibility and pay compensation before now-suspended U.N.
sanctions on Libya are lifted.
Lawyers acting for the Lockerbie families last year struck
an agreement with lawyers acting for Libya. Tripoli would pay
up to $10 million compensation for each death but that deal is
contingent in part on Libya accepting responsibility.
The source close to the talks said a breakthrough came on
Friday when Libya was convinced a statement of responsibility
would accept civil liability for the acts of a state employee,
not criminal responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.
But Cohen said Burns denied Libya would escape criminal
responsibility through any statement.
"The idea of sort of taking only civil responsibility
rather than criminal responsibility is not on the table,"
Cohen said. "He (Burns) stressed this does not free Libya
from any possible future actions as far as the criminal case."
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