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France's UN veto threat again strains ties with its allies

A veto threat at the UN has won Paris extra time to sweeten a deal with Libya aimed at compensating victims of the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner but has further strained ties with increasingly wary allies Washington and London.

Bowing to France's veto threat, the Security Council on Tuesday put off for three more days a vote to lift UN sanctions imposed on Libya over the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

But US officials said the threat had astonished them, pointing out that France had previously pressed for a quick end to the sanctions after declaring itself satisfied with an earlier compensation deal with Libya over the UTA attack.

A senior State Department official likened the threat to France's efforts earlier this year to block UN approval for the war on Iraq.

It's "deja vu all over again," this official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We ... can't imagine how they would explain such an action."

French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere also angered 53 relatives of the Lockerbie victims who had come to the UN to witness the vote.

During a meeting called to explain France's position, he frankly told them that they were "leverage" in Paris's bargaining with Libya on behalf of the UTA victims.

The sanctions, including an air and arms embargo and a ban on some oil equipment and financial assets, were imposed in 1992 and 1994 to pressure Libya to cooperate in the probe into the Pan Am 103 attack.

The vote is largely symbolic as the sanctions were suspended in 1999 after Libya turned over two suspects for trial for the bombing.

One was later convicted and the other acquitted. But Libya is eager for the sanctions to be formally lifted to help end its pariah status in much of the world.

A vote would also clear the way for the families of the 270 Lockerbie victims to begin receiving compensation from Libya, which could eventually reach US$10 million for each family.

Washington and London lined up behind a draft resolution ending the sanctions after Libya last month formally accepted blame for the Pan Am bombing, renounced terrorism and set aside US$2.7 billion in compensation for the 270 victims' families.

The huge sum embarrassed Paris, which had settled for just US$34 million from Libya a few years ago for the UTA attack, which claimed 170 lives.

The French authorities then threatened to block the sanctions-lifting resolution until Libya came through with more money for the UTA families.

As a result, the vote was repeatedly delayed in recent weeks, and delayed once again on Tuesday after France, just minutes before a scheduled vote, said it needed another postponement to keep the pressure on Libya to reach a deal.

After four hours of closed-door talks as the Lockerbie victims' relatives waited in the gallery of the otherwise empty council chamber, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry announced there would be a delay until tomorrow.
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