/ 21 January 1999

GERWEL UPBEAT ABOUT LOCKERBIE

JAKE GERWEL, a close aide to President Nelson Mandela, said on Wednesday that he detected a desire by Libya to conclude the Lockerbie affair “as speedily as possible”. Gerwel, who travelled to Tripoli in a renewed bid to break the deadlock, gave an upbeat assessment of the talks in a BBC interview.Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi has agreed in principle to extradite two Libyans suspected of the December 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, but demands “guarantees” on their fate.