France says it could approve the lifting of UN sanctions against Libya after families of 170 victims of the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner secured the promise of compensation from Tripoli.
Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said tonight a UN Security Council vote to end sanctions imposed after the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland - a vote Paris had threatened to block - could go ahead on Friday as planned.
"France naturally has no more opposition to the UN Security Council voting for the lifting of sanctions against Libya as quickly as possible in New York," he told a joint news conference with family representatives.
The scrapping of the sanctions would pave the way for the release of an expected $2.7 billion from Libya to the families of more than 270 people killed in the Lockerbie bombing.
Libyan officials in Tripoli confirmed that a private fund run by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had signed an accord with the families under which the final compensation amount would be announced within a month.
"The deal was signed a short while ago. It was inked by Rajab Zarouk, a top official from Gaddafi Foundation and a representative of the French families. Every side is happy with the agreement," one official told Reuters.
The Lockerbie settlement encouraged the relatives of the UTA victims in their fight for extra compensation. But they are not expected to get anything like as much, and came away from talks in Tripoli with a promise rather than a definitive agreement.
"We would have preferred a full accord, but this partial deal is quite important. Libya has made commitments it will be hard to get out of," said Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, who lost his father in the bombing.
Sources close to the talks have previously indicated a sum of between $500,000 and $1 million per family was discussed.