UNITED NATIONS, 10 September 2003 — Facing a threatened veto by France, the UN Security Council decided yesterday to delay until Friday a vote to lift sanctions against Libya.
In a formal meeting, the council voted 15-0 for the postponement. Its president, Emyr Jones Parry, Britain’s ambassador, told members the action was taken in the expectation the draft resolution would be adopted on Friday.
The measure, prepared by Britain, would release up to $2.7 billion to the families of 270 victims killed in the 1988 airliner bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The vote had been set for early yesterday. But minutes before, France threatened to veto the measure unless action was delayed. That was for the purpose of allowing more time for a settlement to be reached on a parallel issue of Libyan compensation for the bombing of a French UTA airliner in 1989 that killed 170 people.
As the discussions went on, 53 families of victims in the Pan Am crash over Lockerbie sat patiently in the Security Council gallery waiting for diplomats to appear and vote.
The UN sanctions, including an air and arms embargo and a ban on some oil equipment and financial assets, were imposed in 1992 and 1994 and suspended in 1999 after Libya turned over two suspects for trial for the bombing over Lockerbie.
In a deal negotiated with Britain and the United States, Libya last month accepted responsibility for the Pan Am bombing and agreed to pay an expected $2.7 billion in compensation, which amounts to $5 million to $10 million per family. That cleared the way to end sanctions. But France, which several years ago reached a separate compensation deal with Libya, balked at the Lockerbie settlement, with French families insisting they get higher compensation.
The United States intends to abstain in the final vote, for domestic political reasons, diplomats said.
