The South African government on Thursday welcomed the decision by the United States to lift sanctions against Libya and the European Union’s provisional approval for a partial lifting of sanctions.
”These moves will give further impetus to the normalisation of relations between Libya and the rest of the world, and is in line with the call by the United Nations that sanctions against Libya be removed by the international community,” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
Last year, the UN Security Council lifted 11 years of sanctions against the country, imposed to make the leadership hand over two Libyans wanted for the 1988 bombing of an American airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
South Africa’s Nelson Mandela was involved in the negotiations surrounding the handover of the men.
Barriers to international contact have steadily been falling, with the US lifting commercial sanctions last year.
On Monday, US President George Bush announced that a ban on commercial air services to Libya will be lifted and released $1,3-billion in frozen Libyan assets in recognition of ”significant” steps to eliminate its deadliest weapons programmes.
The EU’s decision will be extended to an arms embargo and will be finalised on October 11.
The decision also means that Libya will pay the next tranche of a compensation package to victims of the Lockerbie disaster.
”On its part, Libya has met all the requirements under relevant UN resolutions to have sanctions lifted and even went a step further by halting its weapons of mass destruction programme. This is a clear demonstration of Libya’s determination to end its international isolation,” Mamoepa said.
”In addition, these decisions are in line with the position of the then Organisation of African Unity and the now African Union that sanctions against Libya be lifted.”
Two South African engineers, Gerhard Wisser and Daniel Geiges, were arrested earlier in September for allegedly being part of a network to supply Libya’s now abandoned nuclear weapons programme. — Sapa