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French Seething Over Libyan Lockerby Settlement May Scuttle Deal
U.S. officials said on Thursday they fear France’s efforts to get a better deal from Libya for victims of the 1989 bombing of a French airliner will delay a $2.7 billion settlement of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
France: "What? You pig-dogs are making us look bad AGAIN! We only got $30,000 per victim when Libya bombed our French airliner and killed our citizens! We demand a re-settlement of that deal we made 10 years ago!
Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday to raise U.S. concerns that France not derail the tortuously negotiated Lockerbie deal, said one U.S. official.
Paraphrasing Colin: "Butt Out!"
Lawyers for families of the 270 people who died in the mid-air bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, signed an agreement with Libya on Wednesday to set up a escrow account to hold the $2.7 billion, or up to $10 million per victim, in compensation Tripoli has agreed to pay. The escrow agreement is the first step in a carefully choreographed arrangement under which Libya is expected to formally take responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, possibly this week, and, as a result, for U.N. sanctions against Tripoli to be lifted, possibly as early as next week.
That will enable Muammar to try and make Libya into something resembling a normal state, possibly as early as the week after that. "Normal" being loosely defined, of course...
France, however, has said that before U.N. sanctions are lifted it wants a better deal for the 170 people who died in the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner. Libya, which never admitted responsibility for that incident, paid about 30.5 million euros ($34.3 million) to settle the claim.
’Course 6 Libyan citizens are spending the rest of their lives in the French bighouse convicted of the bombing in French courts... but Libya per se never admitted responsibility (but they DID pay money anyway.)
"The French may be ARE attempting to delay the (Lockerbie) settlement and the reason for this relates to their dissatisfaction with their own settlement with the UTA flight," said one U.S. official. "It’s a curious spectacle to see. Essentially they are protesting as unfair their (own) deal."
"Our lawyers were incompetent! We demand a recount!"
"I don’t think anybody has any sympathy at the U.N. for the French attitude," the official said. "This is outrageous."
"Hey, Ngokwu! Check out what the Frenchies are trying to pull this time!"
It appears the French government is under some domestic pressure to secure higher compensation for the UTA victims. "If there is a vote in the Security Council to lift the sanctions, we ask that France use its veto as long as we have not obtained full satisfaction," Francoise Rudetzki, president of the SOS-Attentats association, which represents families of the UTA bombing victims, told Reuters in Paris. Rudetzki said that of around 1,000 parties eligible for compensation for the UTA bombing, 313 people received payments of between 3,000 euros ($3,378) and 30,000 euros ($33,780). In contrast, under the deal between the families of the Lockerbie victims and Libyan officials, Libya could pay up to $10 million in compensation for each of the 270 victims that may be covered by the settlement.
Typical French Hissy-Fit... make a deal, see somebody else do better BECAUSE THEY STOOD FIRM AGAINST EVIL (rather than negotiate and appease the bastads) and then complain in a pique of jealousy that the US victims got a better deal.

Posted by: Leigh 2003-08-15
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=17650