The Security Councilagreed yesterday to consider delaying the lifting of UNsanctions on Libya to give France more time to win a betterdeal from Tripoli for the victims of the 1989 bombing of aFrench airliner.
At France's request, the council asked Britain and Franceto try to reach agreement - and then report back to it - on areasonable delay for a vote to end the sanctions and thus closethe book on the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
"We agreed they would come back to us as soon as possible"with the results of their talks, Deputy Ambassador Mr FayssalMekdad of Syria, the council president for August, toldreporters after a closed-door meeting.
Britain had asked the council on Monday to quickly end thesanctions, imposed after the Pan Am jumbo jet was blown up overLockerbie, Scotland, now that Libya has agreed to pay up to $10million to each of the families of the 270 people killed.
London's request, backed by the United States, capped 15years of three-way negotiations with Libya on the Lockerbieatrocity, culminating in Libya's Friday letter acceptingresponsibility for the bombing and agreeing to pay an expected$2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the victims.
But Paris, which has veto power in the Security Council,then vowed to block the resolution while it pursued talks aimedat a better deal for the families of the 170 people killed inthe bombing of a UTA jet over the West African state of Niger.
The expected Lockerbie payment dwarfs the $34 millionhanded over earlier by Libya for the downing of the jet fromthe now-defunct UTA airline, for which a Paris court found sixLibyans guilty in absentia.
Individual pay-outs for the UTA victims have been put at$33,780 at most.