TWO SENIOR DUP MPs have held “positive and constructive” talks with Libyan diplomats in London in connection with their efforts to win compensation for victims of Libyan-backed IRA violence.
Party deputy leader Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson hope to lead a delegation to met Col Muammar Gadafy in Tripoli to call for compensation directly and have pressed the British government for formal support in this.
British prime minister Gordon Brown has authorised a special unit to help victims’ families in their claims.
Following the 45-minute meeting in London yesterday, the two MPs said: “There will be no let-up in our campaign for justice for those who lost their lives or loved ones as a consequence of terrorism in Northern Ireland.
“We laid before the Libyans the need for victims to have closure on this issue and that this requires a process involving Libya to happen as quickly as possible.”
They linked their compensation claim to efforts by Libya “to cease being a pariah state”.
“For the process of normalisation to be completed, the issue of justice for UK victims had to be addressed and resolved,” the MPs said. “We have now formally requested for a delegation including victims to travel to Tripoli and we await developments. We will continue to work for justice for those who suffered as a consequence of Libyan involvement in terrorism.”
The DUP has confirmed it will not back the deployment of any further PSNI officers in Libya to assist with police training. This follows last week’s admission by Ian Paisley jnr, a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, that he authorised PSNI help for Libyan police training programmes earlier this year.
The move was greeted with outrage by many unionists.
“Libya not only supplied arms but also helped finance the provisional IRA, therefore it is imperative that it makes recompense for that role,” said DUP leader Peter Robinson.
“None of our elected representatives will be supporting any future deployments of police personnel to Libya until they have reached a settlement on the payment of compensation to PIRA victims and relations have been normalised.”