SECRETARY-GENERAL LEARNS WITH GRATITUDE AND RELIEF OF ARRIVAL IN NETHERLANDS THIS MORNING OF LIBYAN NATIONALS ACCUSED OF DESTROYING PLANE OVER LOCKERBIE
Press Release
SG/SM/6946*
SECRETARY-GENERAL LEARNS WITH GRATITUDE AND RELIEF OF ARRIVAL IN NETHERLANDS THIS MORNING OF LIBYAN NATIONALS ACCUSED OF DESTROYING PLANE OVER LOCKERBIE
19990405 Kofi Annan Confident That Two Accused Will Receive Fair Trial; Considers It of Great Importance That Justice in Traumatic Case Should at Last Be DoneThe following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General has learned with gratitude and relief of the safe arrival in the Netherlands this morning, on board a United Nations aircraft, of the two Libyan nationals accused of destroying the plane which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988. With their arrival, paragraph 5 of Security Council resolution 1192 (1998), which requested him to assist the Libyan Government with the physical arrangements for the safe transfer of the accused, has now been implemented.
The Secretary-General wishes to thank all those who have worked to make this possible. He would like to express his personal appreciation to the Governments of Libya, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as to those and other leaders and Governments whose efforts have contributed in such a decisive manner to the satisfactory outcome of this long-standing issue. In this connection, he is particularly grateful to President Mandela of South Africa and to King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, as well as to all those who diligently supported or assisted them.
The Secretary-General is confident that the two accused will now receive a fair trial before a Scottish court seated in the Netherlands, in accordance with resolution 1192 (1998), and on the basis of the understandings subsequently reached among the parties concerned. He also looks forward to the speedy implementation of other provisions of resolution 1192 (1988), especially those relating to the sanctions imposed on Libya. He trusts that the outcome of the trial will lead to a full and permanent resumption of normal relations between Libya and the rest of the international community.
The Secretary-General considers it of great importance that justice in this traumatic and long-drawn-out case should at last be done, and be seen to be done -- above all for the sake of the families of the victims, who have suffered an irreparable bereavement. * *** * ___________ * Reissued for technical reasons.