_ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rick Rozoff) ---------------------------------- Wednesday, February 7 4:41 AM SGT US, Britain present unified front on Iraq, Libya WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (AFP) - The United States and Britain presented a unified front on Libya and Iraq on Tuesday as their foreign ministers demanded that Tripoli and Baghdad comply with UN resolutions if they want sanctions lifted. US Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Tripoli must accept responsibility for the 1998 Lockerbie bombing and pay compensation to the victims, after the conviction last week of one of its intelligence officers for the attack on PanAm 103 that killed 270 people. They said officials from London and Washington would meet in coming weeks to discuss re-energizing and improving the existing sanctions imposed on Iraq, aimed at forcing a halt to Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction program. Powell said the verdict in the Lockerbie case was "a major blow" in the fight against terrorism but added the conviction was not the end of the story. "Libya must fulfill the requirements of the (UN) Security Council in full," he said. "Its leadership must accept responsibility for the act of one of its senior intelligence officers, and Libya must pay compensation to the relatives." Powell and Cook told reporters at a joint news conference the UN sanctions would remain in place until Libya fulfilled its obligations, and Cook moved to quash speculation the two countries were at odds on the matter. Much has been made by some observers that Britain lifted unilateral sanctions on Libya last year and resumed diplomatic relations with Tripoli. But Cook said the United States and Britain moved in lockstep on the trial and its aftermath. "Everything we've done on the Lockerbie trial has been done in close agreement with the United States," he said. Cook noted London's unilateral sanctions were imposed for the murder of a British policewoman, for which Libya had now accepted responsibility and paid compensation. Cook said London's ties with Tripoli were irrelevant in the Lockerbie case. "Diplomatic relations are not a reward for good conduct, they are a means of communication," he said, stressing London was using that link to force Tripoli to comply with the UN sanctions. On Iraq, the two ministers said Saddam Hussein's compliance with UN sanctions to dismantle his weapons was not negotiable. "It is vital for security in the Gulf that Saddam Hussein is defeated in his ambitions to develop nuclear, chemical or biological weapons with which to threaten his neighbors and his own people," Cook said. Powell, whose public pronouncements about the need to strengthen the sanctions on Baghdad are legion, made only a slight reference to Iraq, saying he and Cook had discussed the issue and agreed on it. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
