Eyes were on France on Monday as Britain prepared to ask the Security Council to end U.N. sanctions on Libya and take the final step toward closing the book on the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry agreed to introduce a draft resolution to end U.N. sanctions on Libya after its U.N. envoy, Ahmed Own, sent a letter to the 15-nation council on Friday renouncing terrorism and taking blame for the 270 dead from the bombing of the jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Capping 15 years of arduous negotiations, London and Washington have told the council they want the sanctions quickly lifted now that Libya has assumed responsibility for the attack and agreed to pay up to $2.7 billion in compensation, as much as $10 million to each victim's family.

But France, according to U.S. officials, has threatened to use its veto power to block the resolution because Libya agreed years ago to a far less lucrative deal for the 170 dead from the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner over Niger.

Paris said it was in talks with Libya to obtain more money for the families of the UTA victims, 65 of whom were French, after Tripoli turned over a total of $36 million in 1999.

But Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam has ruled out paying more, and diplomats questioned whether Paris would risk a fresh confrontation with the United States and Britain at the United Nations since it would also prevent the Lockerbie families from getting their money.

LIBYA RULES OUT 'EXTORTION'

"That file is completely closed," Chalgam told CNN on Saturday. "We had an agreement with the French and it is completely settled. Any kind of extortion or blackmailing, we're not going to accept that."

"I am not aware of the French threat to veto, but I will be surprised if they will go that far," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters in Helsinki, Finland, on Friday, adding that he thought formally lifting the sanctions was "something that the council should do, and I expect it to do."

The head of a group representing the UTA victims said that of around 1,000 parties eligible for compensation for that bombing, 313 people had received payments of between 3,000 euros ($3,380) and 30,000 euros ($33,780).

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin was talking with all the parties "with the purpose of arriving rapidly at a fair agreement," his ministry said on Sunday.

Villepin also talked over the weekend with Secretary of State Colin Powell, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the ministry said.

U.S. officials had no comment on the talks with Powell.

Libya had long resisted taking blame for the Pan Am 103 blast despite U.N. economic sanctions and an image as a pariah in much of the world.

However, lifting the U.N. sanctions, while helping Libya to put the Lockerbie matter behind it, would have no practical impact because the sanctions were suspended in 1999.

That step occurred after Libya turned over two suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, for trial in connection with their alleged role in the Pan Am bombing.

Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent, was subsequently convicted of the crime in 2001, while Fahima was acquitted.

Lifting the U.N. sanctions also would not affect separate U.S. sanctions including a ban on Libyan oil sales to the United States, which Washington has vowed to keep in force.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+The next great leap after Shenzhou V ( 2003-10-21) +Hu calls for balanced development ( 2003-10-21) +Report: SARS not airborne virus ( 2003-10-21) +Three astronauts board space station ( 2003-10-21) +Japan urged to resolve weapons issue ( 2003-10-21)		+Three astronauts board space station ( 2003-10-21) +US hopes Iraq fund will attract donors ( 2003-10-21) +Bolivia ex-president vows to return ( 2003-10-21) +UN report: US war on terror radicalizes Arabs ( 2003-10-21) +Israel raids in Gaza kill 10, wound 100 ( 2003-10-21)