February 14, 1999
Web posted at: 9:16 p.m. EST (0216 GMT)

RAMBOUILLET, France (CNN) -- British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Sunday that the United States, Britain and Libya have made progress toward an agreement on trying two suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, but he also said a number of loose ends remain.

"What we now need is to tie down the general agreement to the principle of a trial in the Netherlands, with a very specific undertaking from (Libyan leader) Col. (Moammar) Gadhafi," Cook told reporters while attending the Kosovo peace talks in France.

"What we want to see is justice carried out in a fair and open trial. We now look as if we are closer to that than we have ever been so far," he said.

Cook discussed the Lockerbie matter with United Nations officials Sunday. The Foreign Office later said that Cook was told Secretary-General Kofi Annan would probably write to the Libyan leader within the next 24 hours.

Pan Am 103, en route from Britain to the United States, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Britain and the United States have asked for the extradition of two Libyans, Abdel Basset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, who are suspected of conspiring to plant a bomb on the doomed flight. But Gadhafi has refused to hand them over, leading to international sanctions against Libya.

The latest U.S.-British proposal calls for the suspects to be tried in the Netherlands under Scottish law and, if convicted, to serve their sentences in Scotland. Gadhafi has agreed to the trial in the Netherlands but has been insisting that any sentences be served in Libya.

Officials in South Africa and Saudi Arabia, who have been acting as intermediaries in resolving the dispute, told Annan on Friday that an understanding has been reached with the Libyan government on all the outstanding issues related to the case. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan was encouraged by the progress.

Diplomatic sources say that any deal would probably be written up by Annan and presented to the Security Council. But they cautioned that a wait-and-see approach must be taken.

Correspondent Kevin Flower and Reuters contributed to this report.

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