$10 Million Per Family
Libya reportedly makes offer to relatives of Pan Am 103 victims

May 28, 2002

WASHINGTON — Family members of the victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing have reported to the Bush administration that Libya has promised compensation totaling $10 million to each family as part of a settlement process, a senior official said Tuesday.

The reported $10 million per family compensation for the 270 victims of the 1988 bombing would amount to $2.7 billion. Such a settlement apparently would be the largest such package of its kind.

Negotiations between the Libyan government and lawyers representing the families have been carried out in secret without U.S. government participation.

Compensation for the 259 people killed aboard the plane and 11 in Lockerbie, Scotland, who were hit by falling debris, has been among several demands of the U.N. Security Council in exchange for lifting U.N. sanctions against Libya. The dead included 181 Americans.

Last year, a Scottish court convicted a Libyan intelligence agent, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, of murder for smuggling an explosive aboard the Dec. 21, 1988, flight. A co-defendant was acquitted.

The senior U.S. official said the administration has been told that Libya agreed to pay the compensation piecemeal. Release of installments would be tied to progress toward lifting the sanctions, in effect since April 15, 1992, and the lifting of separate sanctions imposed by the United States.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the administration would not feel bound to comply with any such arrangement.

The official added that the Congress would reject it as well. He said the United States could not commit to lifting its sanctions unless Libya is in full compliance with Security Council demands.

Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who represents some family members, said he is unable to comment on settlement negotiations.

In addition to compensation for the families, the Security Council also has demanded that Libya renounce terrorism, acknowledge responsibility for the crime and disclose all it knows about it.

If these conditions are met, the United States conceivably would lift its sanctions. The United States has barred Americans from using their passports for travel to Libya and U.S. oil companies from operating there. In addition, Libya as one of seven countries listed by the State Department as sponsor of international terrorism, is subject to a series of economic sanctions.

Libya has shown indications of moderating its behavior recently, a point underscored in the State Department's annual report on terrorism released last week.

"Libya appears to have curtailed its support for international terrorism, although it may maintain residual contacts with a few groups," the report said.

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