Gadhafi talks to a crowd in Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday

March 2, 1999
Web posted at: 1:01 p.m. EDT (1301 GMT)

TUNIS, Tunisia (CNN) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared Tuesday to be closer to accepting a deal to bring two men suspected in the 1988 Pan Am jet bombing to trial.

"A final agreement is expected," Gadhafi said in a televised speech monitored in Tunis. "I ask the Libyan people to trust South African President Nelson Mandela and Saudi Arabia, who asked us to accept (the deal)."

Libya has refused to hand over the two men who are suspected of planting a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight 103 on December 12, 1988. The Boeing 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

The United States and Britain have agreed to a plan that calls for the two men to be tried under Scottish law in the Netherlands. Despite six months of negotiations, Libya had not agreed to the terms.

But Gadhafi said Tuesday he had spoken with Mandela and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by telephone about the efforts to reach a deal, and that a Saudi envoy had arrived in Tripoli Tuesday to discuss the matter.

"It is not possible to doubt the fairness of a Scottish court," Gadhafi said.

Last weekend, Libya flatly rejected a 30-day deadline, imposed by Britain and the United States, to make a decision on the deal. Neither country indicated what would happen if Libya fails to respond within the 30-day period.

Abuzed Omar Dorda, Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, met with Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday. Libya has demanded that U.N. sanctions against it be lifted when the two suspects are surrendered.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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