/ 10 May 1999

VICTIMS FAMILIES WANT SANCTIONS

A DELEGATION representing families of victims who died in the 1989 bombing of a French airliner asked the United Nations Friday to block the lifting of sanctions against Libya. Francoise Rudetzki, the head of the French association SOS Attentats (SOS attacks), which represents the families, met at the United Nations on Friday with chief UN legal counsel Hans Corell, who promised to pass on their request to the UN secretary general. Secretary General Kofi Annan is to submit a report by July 4 to the UN Security Council concerning the lifting of the seven-year old sanctions, which were suspended on April 5 following the handover by Libya of two suspects wanted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. For the sanctions to be lifted, France must express satisfaction with Libyan cooperation over the 1989 bombing of a French DC-10 jet belonging to the French airline UTA. The plane exploded over Niger, killing 170 people on board.