Sunday, 4 February, 2001: Three Libyans slashed their throats with razors on Saturday in apparent suicide attempts to protest the conviction of Libyan secret agent Abel-Basset al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie airliner bombing, witnesses said. They were among thousands demonstrating in the center of Tripoli, outside the UN building. A Reuters correspondent saw one young man fall to the ground, blood spurting from his neck. Other witnesses said two other protesters had cut their throats to show their anger at what they called a U.S.-inspired guilty verdict. [Reuters] Sunday, 4 February, 2001: Esmat Abdel-Meguid, secretary general of the Cairo-based Arab League, left Saturday for New York to make efforts to lift the U.N. sanctions on Libya, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. Abdel-Meguid was expected to meet with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss ways to permanently lift sanctions on Libya following the verdict in the Lockerbie bombing trial. He will also hold talks with the current U.N. Security Council president, Said Ben Mustafa, Tunisia's ambassador to the U.N., to lobby an "immediate and ultimate" end to the nine-year sanctions imposed on Libya. Ben Mustafa said on Friday that the Security Council might convene this month to discuss specifically on the possible removal of U.N. sanctions against Libya in the light of the Lockerbie verdict. [Xinhua] Sunday, 4 February, 2001: Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Shara on Friday made a telephone call with the Libyan secretary of External Liaison Abdul-Rahman Shalgam. The Libyan official briefed al-Shara on the evaluation and assessment of the Libyan leadership on the development of the Lockerbie issue following the ruling of the Scottish court. The Syrian minister noted Syria's stand in support of the Libyan position in resisting pressure and blackmailing. He also stressed the need of an immediate lifting of the sanctions imposed on Libya. [ArabicNews] Sunday, 4 February, 2001: Vietnam has called for the lifting of the nine-year old sanctions imposed against Libya over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Than says with the judgement by a Scottish court of two Libyan defendants accused of involvement in the bombing, Vietnam holds that it's now time to lift sanctions. The UN Security Council suspended but did not lift the sanctions in April 1999 after Libya agreed to hand over the two suspects whose verdict were announced on Wednesday. One suspect was found not guilty and freed, while the other was convicted and sentenced to life in jail. Arab and African states as well as China, Italy and Spain have all called for the sanctions now to be fully lifted, although they are opposed by Britain and the United States. [ABC] _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
