Libya News and Views Tuesday, 20 February, 2001: Libya recently informed South Korea that it will make a claim for over US $1.2 billion in compensation for any failure by Dong Ah Construction Co. to proceed with the construction of the Great Manmade Waterway in Libya, a Korean ruling party lawmaker said Sunday. Rep. Lee Yoon-soo of the Millennium Democratic Party said that the Libyan Consturction Minister has sent a letter to his South Korean counterpart to notify that the Libyan government will file a suit with a South Korean court to demand over US $1.2 billion in compensation if Dong Ah cannot continue the construction work. The letter dated Feb. 6 claimed that the Libyan government has the right to file the suit until the end of June, Lee said. [Bernama] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 20 February, 2001: The Korean government has asked a Seoul court to consider placing the ailing Dong Ah Construction into receivership. The move comes in view of a possible diplomatic row with Libya over Dong Ah's failure as prime contractor for Libya's man-made waterway project. Son Hak-rae, senior official of the Construction and Transportation Minister, said Monday that Libya had threatened to terminate its man-made river project. So his ministry had asked a local court to seek to place the ailing company into receivership to prevent a diplomatic issue expected to arise with Libya over the halt to the man-made waterway project. Son said Libya proposed in a letter dated Feb. 6 that Dong Ah and Korea Express would join up to complete the man-made river project, adding that the government would convey its position on Dong Ah's situation to Libya through diplomatic channels. [Asia Pulse] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 20 February, 2001: South African President Mbeki is scheduled to attend a special summit of African leaders in Libya next month, to discuss the replacement of the 53-member Organization of African Unity by the African Union (AU). The special summit, schedule for March 1, will deal with such outstanding issues as the date on which the AU will be officially launched, according to a statement released by South African Foreign Ministry on Monday. A South African diplomatic mission will also be established in Tripoli soon, the statement said. [Xinhua] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 20 February, 2001: Libya has condemned Friday's British-American air raids against Iraq as "a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter" and a "denial of the principles of international law." A communique by the General Popular Committee for African Unity, reasserted Libya's full support and solidarity with Iraq and urged the international community to try and put an end to such aggression. British and American bombers carried out attacks on five targets in Iraq causing some civilian casualties, after accusing Iraq of violating the unilateral "no-fly zone" imposed by Washington and London on Iraqi territory. The military operations were undertaken on grounds that the Iraqis opened fire on British and American fighter planes flying over the no-fly zone, which were imposed without UN approval after the 1991 Gulf war. [PANA] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
