UN Cleared to End Libya Sanctions

France's foreign minister said yesterday that an agreement with Tripoli on compensation for the victims of the 1989 UTA airliner bombing meant Paris would now vote for UN sanctions against Libya to be lifted.

Paris had repeatedly delayed the UN vote, saying it would not agree to ending the sanctions imposed on Libya for the 1988 Lockerbie Pan Am bombing unless Tripoli also met the demands of the UTA victims' families.

"France naturally has no more opposition to the security council voting for the lifting of sanctions against Libya as quickly as possible," said Dominique de Villepin yesterday, ending the fraught prospect of a French veto.

Libyan sources had said earlier that a Libyan charitable organisation and representatives of the families of the 170 UTA victims, negotiating in Tripoli, "appear to have succeeded in removing the final hurdles before a final deal can be signed".

The UN sanctions, including an air and arms embargo, were imposed in 1992 and 1994 to try to force Libya to cooperate in the investigation into the Pan Am attack.

A vote would clear the way for the families of the 270 Lockerbie victims to begin receiving up to £6.3m each in compensation and, Tripoli hopes, help end Libya's pariah status in much of the western world.