LIBYA: Libya's prime minister said yesterday if the US did not lift sanctions by May 12th, Libya would not be bound to pay the remaining $6 million promised to each family of victims killed at Lockerbie on Pan Am Flight 103, the New York Times reported.
According to the newspaper, Mr Shokri Ghanem said in an interview that the United States should reward Libya for scrapping its banned weapons programmes by lifting the sanctions, which would allow US oil companies to return to Libya this spring and free $1 billion in assets that Libyan officials say are frozen in American banks.
"The agreement says that eight months after the signing, if American sanctions are not removed, then the additional $6 million for each family of victims will not be paid," Mr Ghanem said.
Last month, when Libya agreed to dismantle its weapons programme, administration officials said US sanctions would not be lifted until Libya began to implement its pledge and took further actions leading to its no longer being identified as a state that sponsors terrorism, the Times said.
The families of the 270 people killed when Libyan terrorists blew up an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, have been paid $4 million each under the agreement signed last September that led the UN to lift its sanctions.
In the settlement, Libya insisted on a stipulation that the families would not receive the full $10 million pledged unless the United States lifted sanctions and removed Libya from the list of states sponsoring terrorism within eight months, the newspaper said citing Libyan and Western officials.
Mr Ghanem said: "The agreement says that eight months after the signing, if American sanctions are not removed, then the additional six million US dollars for each family of victims will not be paid." He told the New York Times: "So of course this would be for the good of the families of the victims, but we will leave this to the decision of the Americans." He also said Libya would like to be compensated for turning over certain nuclear materials, claiming that some former Soviet states have received payouts for such co-operation. - (Reuters, PA)