UK Government: Libya Now UK's Partner Not Opponent

19th Jul 2010 18:56

By Laurence Norman Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's government sees Libya as a partner not an opponent, but wants Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime to continue to demonstrate it has turned its back on its "dark" past, a spokeswoman said Monday. The comments come as Cameron flies to Washington on Monday for meetings with President Barack Obama on Tuesday amid lingering suspicion among U.S. politicians about BP PLC's (BP) role in Scotland's release last summer of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. In an e-mailed statement to Dow Jones Newswires, a spokeswoman for Cameron said the new U.K. government's position on Libya "is that it's undeniable that Libya's past is a dark one. "We must however recognise that Libya has turned a corner and is now a partner for the UK rather than an opponent. Libya needs to continue to demonstrate that is has turned its back on its past by addressing the issues that still haunt our relations," she said. Cameron, who took office in May, has criticized the decision by the Scottish government to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds last summer. At the time, Megrahi was said to be suffering from terminal prostate cancer and had no more than three months to live. But 11 months later, the convicted Lockerbie bomber remains alive. Megrahi is the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people, including 189 Americans, when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. In recent weeks, U.S. congressmen have raised questions about the role of BP in Megrahi's release. Three years ago, BP lobbied the U.K. government to complete a prisoner-transfer agreement with Libya at a time when the U.K. was moving to revive its commercial relationship with Libya. A U.S. Senate committee is set to hold a hearing into events leading up to Megrahi's release later this month. BP is already under fire in the U.S. over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. The congressional investigation into Megrahi's release has cast a shadow over Cameron's first trip to Washington to meet with Obama since he became prime minister on May 11. Cameron is due to meet congressional leaders during the trip and officials have said the Megrahi issue is likely to come up. In a public letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Saturday that Scotland's decision to release Megrahi was already "extensively investigated" by the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee, which determined that the Scottish government followed the law. Hague also said BP wasn't involved in Megrahi's release. Last year, ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown from the now opposition Labour Party met with Gadhafi at the L'Aquila Group of Eight developed nations summit. Cameron's spokeswoman said neither the prime minister nor Hague has met with Gadhafi. (Paul Sonne and Alistair MacDonald of The Wall Street Journal contributed to this article) -By Laurence Norman, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-207-842-9270; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 19, 2010 13:56 ET (17:56 GMT)