The United States, Britain and France are hammering out an agreement to impose sanctions on Libya for its alleged role in the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 and a French airliner, diplomats said Thursday.
The first step may be to ban commercial air traffic to Libya and halt the sale of planes and aircraft parts to the nation, a senior U.S. official said.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the air traffic ban has support of the three nations, but harsher sanctions are being discussed in Washington, London and Paris.
The other measures include banning sales of military supplies, and technology that could have military or civilian applications, the official said. An embargo on Libyan oil exports is also being considered, he said.
Western U.N. diplomats said no U.N. action on the sanction proposals is expected before January.
Thursday's New York Times, which first reported the punitive measures being considered, said the air travel sanctions would make life difficult in Libya but would not be economically devastating.
In Paris, a government spokesman confirmed Thursday that officials were working to put together a sanctions plan.
"These conversations have been ongoing and are still continuing," said Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, deputy spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.
He did not mention possible measures against Libya, suggesting no final decision had been made.
Two Libyan intelligence agents have been indicted in the bombing of Pan Am's New York-bound Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, three years ago.
The sanctions are intended to force Libya's leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, to comply with an American and British request for extradition of the agents and compensation for the bombing, which killed 270 people.
French courts also blame Libyan agents for the bombing of a Union de Transports Aeriens plane over Niger in September 1989 that killed 170 people.