U.S. keeps Libya travel ban in place for another year

Wreckage of Pan Am flight 103, bombed over Lockerbie in 1988

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States extended a ban on U.S. passport holders traveling to Libya by one year on Friday in a move claimed as a victory by relatives of people killed in the 1988 airliner bombing over Lockerbie.

"The ban has been extended by one year," a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity said, adding that a statement would be released shortly.

U.S. passport holders have been barred from traveling to Libya since Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Tripoli in 1981. The ban, which allows for exceptions only by special State Department waiver, is reviewed annually.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had been expected to extend the ban by a shorter period in a nod to the view that it is outdated. Hundreds of Americans defy the restrictions to work in Libya's oil industry.

Lifting the restriction while the trial continues of two Libyans charged with the bombing of a U.S. jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie would have sparked a torrent of criticism.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachussetts, welcomed the move, saying, "Secretary Albright has made the right decision. The travel ban has been in effect since 1981 and it deserves to be extended for another year."

He added, "The trial of the suspects in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 is still taking place and the travel ban should remain in place as well."

Albright has effectively left the decision on lifting the restrictions to the next administration, which takes over January 20.

"We consider this a victory," said Dan Cohen of Cape May Court House, New Jersey, whose daughter, Theodora, 20, was killed in the blast, which took 270 lives.

The view that the ban is outdated was apparently confirmed by a U.S. consular mission which visited Libya in March but whose findings have never been released.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recently the mission had found there was little basis for the ban, whose criterion is that there is "imminent danger" to Americans.

"Based on the process, the justification for retaining the restrictions is very thin at best," he said.

The official said that in theory the decision on the ban had nothing to do with the lengthy trial of the two Libyans, which opened in May and has frequently adjourned because of disputes over evidence.

The Libyans, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, are accused of planting a bomb aboard the Pan Am plane whose victims included 189 Americans.

Libya handed the men over for trial last year, winning the suspension of U.N. sanctions.

A vocal group of the Lockerbie relatives opposes any sign of U.S. rapprochement with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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