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| Africa North | |
| Libyan rebels deny offering Lockerbie compensation | |
| 2011-04-06 | |
| Libya's revolutionary administration has denied a claim by a British lawyer representing victims of IRA attacks and the Lockerbie bombing that it has apologised for Libya's involvement and offered compensation. Following a meeting with the rebel council's leadership in Benghazi, Jason McCue, head of the Libya Victims Initiative, read a statement which he said was an "unequivocal apology" for Libya's provision of Semtex used in IRA bombings and the blowing up of the Pan Am flight. McCue said the revolutionary council had agreed to pay compensation along the lines paid out in a deal between Muammar Gaddafi and the US government which provided $10m for a death and $3m for a serious injury. He said there was also agreement to set up a trust for other victims. McCue said the apology and offer of compensation was in the name of chairman of its interim governing council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil. But Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, its deputy chairman, said McCue's claims were "not true". "We didn't apologise ourselves. We regret what happened, the catastrophic event of Lockerbie, and we will do our best to reach the truth with the families of Lockerbie. Also for the IRA. We emphasised to the British government that we will work to overcome what has happened. But there was no apology. We are not responsible," he said. Ghoga said that the council "didn't negotiate anything about compensation". "We want to know the truth. We will help the families of the victims to get to the truth," he said. However, separately, the council said that it would "co-operate fully" to establish what had happened in the Lockerbie attack "and the right of the victims' families for justice". Mustafa Gheriani, a council spokesman, was equally clear in his denial that an apology was made. He said they council had expressed sorrow but that Gaddafi was responsible and that it is he who should apologise. "When we say sorry it means we did it. But we did not do it. Gaddafi did it. It's sorrow not an apology," he said.
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| Posted by:Steve White |