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Libya signs 170m deal 89 french passenger jet bombing Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-01-09-libya-france_x.htm http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-01-09-libya-france_x.htm Libya signs $170M deal for for '89 French passenger jet bombing PARIS (AP) — Libya on Friday signed a compensation accord worth $170 million with families of victims of a 1989 French passenger jet bombing, bringing closure to years of grief. The deal — which came 14 years after the bombing of the French UTA passenger plane over the Niger desert that killed 170 people — also was expected to open the way to a new era of ties between Tripoli and Paris. The agreement was signed by a representative of relatives of victims of the attack, Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, the director of a Libyan foundation, Salah Abdu Slame, a bank handling the transfer of funds and the lawyer for SOS-Attentat, a group that works for terrorism victims rights. The Sept. 19, 1989, bombing of an UTA airlines jet flight over the Niger desert killed all 170 people aboard. Victims' families came from 17 countries, but France, with 54 dead, had the heaviest casualties. "We're happy to have succeeded ... the scar will always remain, but at least it has healed," de Saint Marc said shortly before the signing. A special foundation was being set up to distribute funds, not expected to start flowing for six months. The pact with the French relatives is the latest overture by the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Libya to return to the good graces of Europe and the United States. Gadhafi last month abruptly renounced efforts to build weapons of mass destruction and opened his country's weapons-production facilities to international inspection. A French court convicted Gadhafi's brother-in-law and five other Libyans in absentia for the UTA blast and sentenced them to life in prison for the bombing. In 1989, the 170 families of the UTA bombing victims received a total of $33 million from Libya, which accepted responsibility. But they demanded added compensation after Libya in September agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 victims of the 1988 Pan Am bombing, giving relatives of each victim between $5 million and $10 million. Libya also accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie attack. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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