US, Libya near deal for Lockerbie victims
Total payout for terror attacks around $1 billion
Libya would pay hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate U.S. victims of terrorism under a tentative agreement that hinges on action by the U.S. Congress, sources familiar with the accord said on Wednesday.
Under the deal, Libya would set aside $536 million to pay the remaining claims from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and $283 million to compensate those killed and injured in the bombing of a West Berlin disco in 1986, said attorney Jim Kreindler, whose law firm represents 130 Lockerbie victims.
Two hundred and seventy people died when a bomb destroyed a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988. The Berlin disco bomb killed three and injured 229.
The payments would resolve all outstanding cases of what Washington regards as past Libyan terrorist acts that killed or injured Americans. If carried out, the deal could end the legal liability to Libya stemming from multiple lawsuits by families of the U.S. victims and it could herald a further warming in ties between Tripoli and Washington.
Long estranged, the two nations have dramatically improved relations since Libya's 2003 decision to abandon its pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
The deal would also set aside additional funds to compensate victims of other incidents blamed on Libya, possibly bringing the total payout to more than $1 billion.
To implement the tentative agreement, however, Congress would have to relieve Libya of the effects of a law enacted this year making it easier for terrorism victims to collect damages by having the assets of target governments frozen.
"It's not locked in," a senior U.S. official said of the tentative agreement. "Congressional action would help us enormously to make sure it happens."
The deal has been structured to respect Libyan sensitivities about making a large payout to compensate victims of incidents for which it has not taken responsibility.
"Libya ... doesn't have to accept any responsibility," said the senior official. Making the payments to the victims indirectly, through the designated entity, "provides a way for them to (get some) distance from it."