Former South African president Nelson Mandela made a brief visit to Tripoli on Sunday during which he met Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi, the official Libyan Jana agency reported. The two men raised African and international issues, and Mandela briefed the Libyan leader about his mediation efforts in Burundi and his contacts with the parties concerned with Lockerbie.
According to the agency, Mandela is working on lifting the sanctions imposed on Libya after 1992 aimed at delivering the two men suspected of planting a bomb in 1988 on a Pan-Am Boeing jet airliner, which then exploded over the Scottish village of Lockerbie, causing 270 deaths. However London and Washington have insisted that, for the lifting of the sanctions to go ahead, Tripoli must accept its responsibility for the attack and agree to pay compensation of more than $700-million to the families of the victims. Mandela is due in Washington on Monday for a meeting with US President George W Bush for talks on the efforts being led to encourage peace and prosperity in Africa, the White House said Friday. – AFP
Sunday November 11, 2001