Col Muammar Gadafy yesterday defiantly repeated his refusal to extradite two Libyans accused of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. This followed a second meeting within a week with President Nelson Mandela, in which he apparently rejected the South African leader's appeal for moderation.
When the two leaders met in the Libyan town of Zuwarah, east of the capital, Tripoli, Mr Mandela advised Col Gadafy to support the United Nations in its efforts to "reduce tension, conflict and violence".
Mr Mandela has repeatedly denied he is seeking to mediate in the dispute.
At a news conference after the President's departure, the Libyan leader emphasised he would not change his stand. He said Libya wanted a trial "in a neutral country . . . If they (Britain and the United States) don't want (it), they don't want it. They will be the losers".
Col Gadafy accused Britain and the US of being motivated by racial and religious hatred for Libya. "No one believes the issue is of a plane that fell," he said.
The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Libya in 1992 after its refusal to extradite to Britain or the US two alleged agents indicted in both countries on charges of planting a bomb aboard Pan Am flight 103. The plane exploded over the Scottish village of Lockerbie on December 21st, 1988, killing a total of 270 people.
South Africa, along with other African and Arab states, has criticised the sanctions and called for their removal. But after talks with King Hassan of Morocco on Tuesday, Mr Mandela insisted he was not "mediating on the Lockerbie issue".
He added that he had never asked the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, at last weekend's Commonwealth summit in Edinburgh that the suspects be tried in a neutral country.
Mr Mandela, who was greeted in Zuwarah with a 21-gun salute and a noisy welcome from several thousand tribesmen, soldiers, government officials, women and children, did not specifically mention the Lockerbie issue in his public comments.
He left after awarding Col Gadafy the Order of Good Hope, the highest South African honour a foreigner may receive, reciprocating an award the Libyan leader gave Mr Mandela last week.