The UN Security Council plans to vote today to lift more than a decade of sanctions against Libya, but France could block the long-awaited deal to settle the Lockerbie bombing case.
Libya has agreed to a £1.7 billion sterling compensation deal for the families of the 270 victims of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, and acknowledged responsibility for the attack.
The deal embarrassed France which settled for much less in a similar case.
The French government settled with Libya in 1999 for just £21 million to be shared by families of the 170 people killed in the bombing of a UTA flight over Niger in 1989.
When French families learned of the Lockerbie settlement they demanded more money. Paris has demanded that Libya come up with a fairer compensation deal and has threatened to veto the lifting of sanctions unless it does.
The UN sanctions were imposed in 1992 to force Mr Muammar Gadafy's government to surrender two men wanted in the 1988 Pan Am bombing.
The sanctions - a ban on arms sales and air links with Libya - were indefinitely suspended in 1999 after the two Libyans were handed over for trial, but Libya has pressed for the embargoes to be lifted - not just suspended - to restore its standing in the international community.
Britain and the United States have said Libya has met all the requirements to lift the strictures, though Security Council diplomats say the United States may abstain rather than vote "yes" to lift sanctions.
The 270 Lockerbie families will be paid £2.5 million each when UN sanctions against Libya are lifted.
AP