| In 2000, Libya continued
efforts to mend its international image in the wake
of its surrender in 1999 of two Libyans accused
of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland, in 1988. Trial proceedings for the two
defendants began in the Netherlands in May and were
ongoing at year's end. (The court issued its verdict
on 31 January 2001. It found Abdel Basset al-Megrahi
guilty of murder, concluding that he caused an explosive
device to detonate on board the airplane resulting
in the murder of the flight's 259 passengers and
crew as well as 11 residents of Lockerbie, Scotland.
The judges found that he acted "in furtherance
of the purposes of...Libyan Intelligence Services."
Concerning the other defendant, Al-Amin Kalifa Fahima,
the court concluded that the Crown failed to present
sufficient evidence to satisfy the high standard
of "proof beyond reasonable doubt" that
is necessary in criminal cases.)
In 1999, Libya paid compensation for the death
of a British policewoman/*/, a move that preceded
the reopening of the British Embassy. Libya also
paid damages to the families of victims in the
bombing of UTA flight 772. Six Libyans were convicted
in absentia in that case, and the French judicial
system is considering further indictments against
other Libyan officials, including Libyan leader
Muammar Qadhafi.
/*/In April 1984, a British policewoman was
killed and 11 demonstrators were wounded when
gunmen in the Libyan People's Bureau in London
fired on a peaceful anti-Qadhafi demonstration
outside their building.
Libya played a high-profile role in negotiating
the release of a group of foreign hostages seized
in the Philippines by the Abu
Sayyaf Group, reportedly in exchange for a
ransom payment. The hostages included citizens
of France, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, Finland,
the Philippines, and Lebanon. The payment of ransom
to kidnappers only encourages additional hostage
taking, and the Abu Sayyaf Group, emboldened by
its success, did seize additional hostages--including
a US citizen--later in the year. Libya's behavior
and that of other parties involved in the alleged
ransom arrangement served only to encourage further
terrorism and to make that region far more dangerous
for residents and travelers.
At year's end, Libya had yet to comply fully
with the remaining UN Security Council requirements
related to Pan Am 103: accepting responsibility,
paying appropriate compensation, disclosing all
it knows, and renouncing terrorism. The United
States remains dedicated to maintaining pressure
on the Libyan Government until it does so. Qadhafi
stated publicly that his government had adopted
an antiterrorism stance, but it remains unclear
whether his claims of distancing Libya from its
terrorist past signify a true change in policy.
Libya also remained the primary suspect in several
other past terrorist operations, including the
Labelle discotheque bombing in Berlin in 1986
that killed two US servicemen and one Turkish
civilian and wounded more than 200 persons. The
trial in Germany of five suspects in the bombing,
which began in November 1997, continued in 2000.
Although Libya expelled the Abu Nidal organization
and distanced itself from the Palestinian rejectionists
in 1999, it continued to have contact with groups
that use violence to oppose the Middle East Peace
Process, including the Palestine
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the
Liberation
of Palestine-General Command.
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