Libya accepts responsibility for Lockerbie bombing

Libya has officially accepted responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

It has submitted a letter to the United Nations Security Council - paving the way for the lifting of sanctions.

The US and Britain also delivered letters to the president of the security council declaring that Libya had met the conditions required to lift UN sanctions.

Last night's letter came two days after lawyers for Libya and for the families of the Lockerbie victims agreed to a £1.8bn (€2.5bn) compensation fund for the bombing that killed 270 people.

Two Libyans were charged in connection with the Pan Am bombing, and in an effort to force Muammar Gaddafi's government to hand them over, the security council banned arms sales and air links to Libya.

Under a 1992 UN resolution, the sanctions were not to be lifted until the government acknowledged responsibility, paid fair compensation, renounced terrorism and disclosed all it knew about the explosion.

Syria's UN Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, the current president of the security council, has now received letters from Libyan charge d'affaires Ahmed Own, US Deputy Political Counsellor Gordon Olson and British Ambassador Sir Emyr Jones Parry.

UN diplomats say the next step is for Britain to circulate a draft resolution lifting sanctions. The compensation deal - settled after two-and-a-half years of negotiations- is the largest payout in an aviation case or in an international compensation scheme.

The fund will be set up in an escrow account at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, said James Kreindler, a lawyer for the families.