Page:Title 3 CFR 2006 Compilation.djvu/297

 Title 3--The President MEMORANDUM OF JUSTIFICATION FOR RESCISSION OF LIBYA STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM DESIGNATION The President's certification to permit rescission of Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism represents the culmination of 15 years of concerted diplomatic effort and monitoring of Libyan behavior by the United States. In the wake of Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, relations deteriorated further during the 1980's, culminating in the destruction of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December of 1988, killing 270 people. Following an intensive investigation with the United Kingdom, the United States and United Kingdom announced criminal indictments against two Libyan agents and issued a joint declaration in November 19914 The declaration demanded that Libya surrender those charged for trial, accept responsibility for the actions of its officials, cooperate in the investigation, and pay appropriate compensation. On the same day, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France issued a declaration requiring "that Libya commit itself concretely and definitively to cease all forms of terrorist action and all assistance to terrorist groups. Libya must promptly, by concrete actions, prove its renunciation of terrorism." The demands in these two declarations were endorsed in subsequent resolutions of the U.N. Security Council, which imposed economic sanctions on Libya for its failure to comply. In 1999, Libya began the process of fully meeting the requirements to distance itself from terrorism. In that year, it arranged for the transfer of the two Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie bombing to the Netherlands, where they were tried before a Scottish court under Scottish law. In 2001, one of the two suspects was convicted, and this verdict was affirmed on appeal in 2002. Also, beginning in 2001 the United States and the United Kingdom initiated three-way direct talks with Libyan representatives to secure Libya's compliance with the other international terrorism requirements. Based upon these discussions, on August 15, 2003, Libya sent a letter to the U.N. Security C6uncil confirming its commitment "not to engage in, attempt, or participate in any way whatever in the organization, financing or commission of terrorist acts or to incite the commission of terrorist acts or support them directly or indirectly # and to "cooperate in the international fight against terrorism." Libya also accepted responsibility for the actions of its officials in the Pan Am \177t03 incident. Separately, Libya reached agreement with 269 of the 270 families affected by the Pan Am 103 incident. Libya set up a $2.7 billion escrow account 284

�