Libya Evasive on Surrendering Terror Suspects

EDGARTOWN, Mass. —  The United States urged Libya on Wednesday to surrender swiftly two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing for trial in the Netherlands.

Libya said Wednesday that it would deal “positively” with a U.S.-British plan to try the two Libyan suspects under Scottish law at a court in The Hague. But it did not make clear if it would surrender the two for trial.

“If the Libyans are serious, we would expect the next step to be the [U.N.] secretary-general’s notification that the suspects have been transported to The Hague and are in Dutch custody,” a Clinton administration official said.

The State Department said the Libyan statement fell short of U.N. requirements.

The statement “does not specifically state that Libya is prepared, as called for in U.N. Security Council resolutions, promptly to turn the suspects over for trial,” department spokesman James Foley said.

Under the plan, drawn up as a draft resolution by the 15-member Security Council, the Libyans--accused of blowing Pan Am Flight 103 out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 270 people--would be tried in the Netherlands.

The idea was to answer Libyan objections to trying the pair in Britain or the United States. In return, U.N. sanctions against Libya, some of which have been violated repeatedly, would be suspended.

The White House said the Libyan statement was not entirely clear.

“If this means that Libya intends to surrender the two suspects to Dutch custody, we would consider this a positive development,” the administration official said.

“However, if the Libyan statement signifies an attempt to negotiate the terms of the trial, we would remind the Libyan government that the terms are nonnegotiable.”

The U.N. imposed an air and diplomatic embargo against Libya in 1992 over Tripoli’s failure to hand over the pair for trial in the United States or Scotland.