But relations have been held back by the absence of any final settlements resolving the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, as well as the 1986 bombing of a German disco. Americans were killed in both attacks.Libya was implicated in both incidents and it had agreed to pay the families of Lockerbie victims $10 million per victim, but has not made the final payment. It has also not paid compensation for U.S. victims of the La Belle disco bombing in West Berlin.
LIBYA SEEN AS IMPATIENT
Human rights activists and relatives of jailed Libyan dissidents have pressed the United States to live up to its stated aim of promoting democracy in the Middle East."I would expect that the secretary is going to talk about the importance of basic principles of human rights and democracy in Libya, including freeing political dissidents," McCormack said.Analysts said Thursday's talks could build on Rice's and her predecessor Colin Powell's previous meetings with Shalgam at the United Nations that featured candid discussions."We, at least now, have a much more normalized relationship with Libya in the sense that, like with any country where we have differences, we are trying to settle them through regular diplomatic dialogue," said David Mack, vice president of the Middle East Institute and a retired U.S. diplomat.Lisa Anderson, a Middle East politics expert at Columbia University, said "the Libyans are feeling a little impatient" at the slow pace of full diplomatic normalization, and Tripoli probably wants a U.S. invitation for leader Muammar Gaddafi-an unlikely prospect."We can't seem to get an ambassador there and we're dragging our feet, from their perspective, and they would like something more serious and high profile," Anderson said.Rice told reporters last month she hope to visit Libya, but provided no date for a trip that would make her the highest-level U.S. visitor to the country in more than 50 years.
As in the days of Noah...