President Jacques Chirac’s office said on Wednesday France very much hoped Libya would abide by its commitment to compensate victims of the 1989 bombing of a French airliner despite an apparent breakdown in negotiations.
Libya on Tuesday abruptly broke off talks here aimed at settling a compensation deal for families of passengers killed. A spokespersonfor the families said informal contacts had resumed on Wednesday.
A DC-10 airliner belonging to the French airline UTA blew up over the Sahara desert in the west African state of Niger killing 170 victims from 17 countries, including 54 French people.
Libya was internationally held responsible. The Libyan delegation claimed after the talks broke off Tuesday that the French side was reneging on prior commitments.
But sources close to the French president said: “We hope keenly that commitments undertaken by Libya will be honoured.”
The president’s office had “taken note of the seeming suspension of discussions,” recalling that it was families of victims who were negotiating, the sources said.
Chirac warned Libya last Sunday that there would be repercussions in relations between the two countries if Libya’s commitments were not met.
But a spokesperson for the families, Guillaume Denoix de Saint-Marc, said on Wednesday the delegation had remained in Paris and informal contacts had resumed between the Libyans and the families.
“This morning I had a conversation of more than an hour with Salah Abdel Salam (the head of the delegation). Contact has not been broken,” said Denoix de Saint-Marc.
The two sides reached an agreement in principle on Septemnber 11 on a financial package for relatives of the 170 victims, but a deadline to finalise the deal passed at midnight on Saturday.
France backs the relatives’ demand for compensation equivalent to the damages promised to families of victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
In that case, Tripoli paid $2,7-billion last month into a fund for the Lockerbie families in return for the lifting of sanctions.
The interim deal had paved the way for France to drop a veto threat against a UN Security Council resolution lifting decade-old sanctions against Libya imposed over both the French UTA bombing.
But despite the Libyans’ contacting the families shortly before the deadline to request fresh talks, the two sides swiftly fell out over what had already been agreed.
Although Libya is under less pressure to reach a deal with the UTA families now that UN sanctions have been lifted, it is still understood to be keen to reach an agreement in order to have a 1999 French conviction in absentia against six Libyans — including Gadaffi’s brother-in-law — quashed.
“The current proposals do not meet the wishes of most of the families of the victims,” said Francoise Rudetzki, president of SOS Attentats which is helping the victims’ relatives.
The aircraft was carrying 54 French citizens, 48 Congolese, 25 Chadians, 10 Italians, eight Americans, five Cameroonians, four Britons, three Canadians, three people from Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), two people from the Central African Republic, two Malians, two Swiss, one Algerian, one Greek, one Moroccan and one Senegalese national. – AFP