ARABS-EUROPEAN - Oct. 11 - Paris Tells Libya To Act On Claims In Bombing.

A French negotiator, Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, says Libya has responded following a stern warning from France and resumed efforts to reach a compensation deal with families of victims of a 1989 airliner bombing. Libyan negotiators resumed contacts just hours after Pres. Chirac warned that Libya's ties with France would suffer if it did not conclude a deal. Guillaume's father was among the 170 people killed in the attack on the French UTA jet, a DC-10. He says he believes Chirac's warning had shaken the Libyans and "reminded them of their obligations". "There's no doubt about the fact that we will have a final accord, I'm quite serene about that. The problem is when", Denoix de Saint Marc says in a telephone interview. Victims' families are seeking additional compensation on top of $33 million that Libya already paid in 1999. Libya has offered an extra $1 million for each family of the 170 victims, but Denoix de Saint Marc says that is not enough. Under an earlier preliminary accord, Libya and the families were meant to have reached a definitive agreement by today. As the deadline looms, Chirac says Libya-France relations would suffer if the Libyans failed to follow through on their promises. That earlier partial deal, signed Sept. 10, had cleared the way for a UN vote that lifted 11-year-old sanctions against Libya. After Chirac delivered his warning, the Libyans telephones today afternoon with an offer to hold talks, says Denoix de Saint Marc. He says they were still discussing whether to meet in Tripoli or in Paris. Either way, he says he expects the talks to take place early this week, possibly on Oct. 16. The head of a French association that has also been involved in the negotiations, Francoise Rudetzki, calls for detailed offers from Libya that could clear the way for a final accord. "We're waiting for concrete proposals on the amount of compensation, its timing, and how the Libyans expect to pay the families, " says Rudetzki of SOS-Attentats, which campaigns for victims of terrorism. She was speaking on France-Info radio. A French antiterrorism court convicted six Libyans in absentia and sentenced them to life in prison in 1999 for the bombing. The six, who include a brother-in-law of Libya's leader, Muammar Qaddafi, remain at large.