ARAB-EUROPEAN - Feb. 24 - Libyan PM Denies Lockerbie Blame & Fletcher Killing.Libyan GPC (1) A PC that uses the Linux-based gOS operating system. See gOS. (2) (GPC Group) Originally the Graphics Performance Characterization committee of the NCGA, the GPC Group is now part of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) and oversees the following Sec-Gen. (PM) Shokri Ghanem denies his country is to blame for the Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 passengers on Pan Am flight 103 lost their lives - although his government has agreed to pay $2.7 bn compensation to the victims' families. Ghanem, speaking on BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. Radio 4's Today programme, also denies Libyan involvement in the shooting of a British woman police constable in 1984. (The denials risk upsetting Libya's rapprochement with the UK and US. The fatal 1984 shooting of Yvonne Fletcher Woman Police Constable (WPC) Yvonne Joyce Fletcher (1959–17 April 1984) was a British police officer who was shot and killed in London's St James's Square during a protest outside the Libyan embassy. outside the Libyan embassy in London led to a long rupture in UK-Libyan relations that only began to be eased 15 years later, when Libya accepted responsibility for the killing and offered to pay compensation). Ghanem says Libya's compensation offers were made to "buy peace" with the West and were not an admission of guilt admission of guilt n. a statement by someone accused of a crime that he/she committed the offense. If the admission is made outside court to a police officer it may be introduced as evidence if the defendant was given the proper warnings as to his/her rights . (His comments will be a severe embarrassment to the UK government, which has responded positively to Libya's recent efforts to end its international isolation. Libya has sought to move forward from years of crippling economic sanctions, reaching compensation agreements with several countries over its alleged involvement in terrorist bombings. The country's rehabilitation, and that of its controversial ruler Moammar Qadhafi, took a big step forward in December, when Qadhafi agreed to dismantle Libya's weapons of mass destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or - WMD WMD white muscle disease. - and invited UN inspectors to his country. This process that could be completed as early as end-June, according to the IAEA IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency. head ElBaradei, who is currently visiting Libya. The development of trade ties, possible military aid and a trip by UK PM Blair to meet Qadhafi are being linked to Tripoli's help with the investigation into the death of Fletcher and progress in dismantling its WMD programme. Ghanem's comments will be a setback for Blair, whose government played a key diplomatic role in securing December's weapons agreement. A spokesman for the UK PM later said the government would be seeking clarification from the Libyan authorities, but that the UK would continue to work with Libya on the WMD issue with a view to "normalising relations". (See Arab-US Relations). |
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