Mandela
blasts U.S., Britain for failure to life Libyan sanctions
|
 SIRTE,
Libya (FinalCall.com)�Nelson Mandela, the elder South African statesman, strongly
rebuked the United States and Great Britain March 1 for reneging on a
process that would bring the total lifting of sanctions against Libya
following the handing over for trial the two Libyan nationals accused in
the Lockerbie bombing.
Mr. Mandela made the stern remarks in a speech before
the opening session of the 5th Extraordinary Assembly of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) March 1-2, which convened here to
formally approve the creation of an African Union. He called on the
assembly to put forth a resolution "strongly condemning" the
sanctions against the North African Muslim country.
The Libyan nationals were handed over for trial last
year. Recently, the trial ended with one of the defendants, Abdel Basset
Al-Maghrhi, being found guilty. The other was acquitted.
In a deep, authoritative voice, Mr. Mandela said he
had written the leaders of the United States and Britain calling for the
lifting of sanctions, explaining that court documents do not implicate
Libyan government involvement in the 1988 incident.
He said that prior discussions with those leaders led
him to believe that once the Libyan nationals were handed over, the U.S.
and Britain would move to get sanctions completely lifted. UN sanctions
have been suspended; however, many U.S. sanctions still are enforced.
"We are grateful that the due process has been
followed, and we were hopeful that the matter would now have been
concluded," Mr. Mandela declared. "Libya fully cooperated with
the court and one was anticipating the final lifting of sanctions. In
fact, I must say we were expecting sanctions to be lifted quite a while
ago."
Suggesting a slight of hand by the U.S. and British
governments, Mr. Mandela said: "From the discussions and
consultations I had with some of the leaders immediately before the
handing over, I had the expectation that the United Kingdom and the
United States would move to have the sanctions permanently lifted as
soon as the handing over."
Mr. Mandela played a key role in the negotiations to
have the suspects turned over in order to resolve the case.
Noting that the United States and Britain now want to
hold the Libyan government responsible and for Libya to compensate
victims� families, Mr. Mandela said he has studied the court�s
judgment and nowhere is Libya implicated. He said he sent the judgment
to U.S. and British leaders to examine.
He called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to have
restrictions removed from Security Council resolutions in order to get
sanctions totally lifted.
"Apart from the moral consideration, I have the
concern that nations may start disregarding United Nations resolutions
and that such challenges of the authority to our world body cannot be
violated," he said.
"We should, therefore, avoid the circumstances
that will encourage such challenges to its authority. I continue to be
in discussion with those leaders who are not too concerned to be in
direct discussions with Libya in order to come to a speedy, final
resolution," he said.
Hairat Balogun, a Nigerian attorney who was one of
five official observers, told The Final Call that while she found
the proceedings fair, she was "intrigued" by so-called star
witnesses for the prosecution.
One was a Libyan who defected to the CIA, she said,
and another was serving a life sentence for a bombing.
"An appeal is necessary," she said.
In other matters, Mr. Mandela reported that the peace
process he oversees in Burundi between warring factions is making
progress.
He also commended Liberian President Charles Taylor
for releasing jailed journalists whom the Liberian government had
charged with subversion.
�James Muhammad
Photo: The elder statesman, former
South African President Nelson Mandela, is greeted by Co. Gadhafi. (Credit:
James G. Muhammad) |
