Two planes were shot down over Libya. Libya gets sanctioned. A few years ago, the French accepted a settlement for the French airliner that was destroyed. A few days ago, the US and Libya reached an agreement for a settlement regarding the Scottish airliner (Lockerbie).
Well, well. Turns out the US-negotiated settlement is much better than the French one. (yeah, big surprise that the Frogs can't negotiate well) So now France is threatening to veto in the UN the gradual lifting of sanctions on Libya until a new settlement can be reached - you know, to rewrite the one the Frogs already accepted.
Screw you, Pierre. You had your chance. Now, much as you did in the Iraq war, you're putting French interests in front of the world for your own financial gain. Scumbags.
The French acting unilaterally? Non, say it ain't so. "Whhhhaaaaaa!!!!! They got a better deal than us!!!!" I guess all the practice sucking up to pretty much anything other than former allies didn't work out too well in this case. Poor things.
petulance It says Libya paid out 30 million euro to the families of 170 victims - but only 1/3 of the families were compensated = yet only 3k-30k euros actually went to the desedants families ?
What happened to the other 27,000,000 euros?
Is it possible that the reason the US received a better deal is that they stuck to their principles and didn't sell out? What have the French learned from this? Nothing.
De Villepin is a very talented diplomat, everybody knows that.
Last October, he rolled out the red carpet for his Libyan counterpart in Paris in the hope of improving commercial relations with Libya (Anyone willing to scream "no blood for oil"?) - precisely after agreeing on "a definitive resolution" of the UTA matter (after de Villepin's visit to Libya, a week earlier).
De Villepin talked about the Iraq crisis with his Libyan counterpart. It was reported both men had the same position regarding Iraq...
In the same breath, France was abstaining from voting against (hence favoring) the election of Libya at the head of the UN Human Rights Commission.
Meanwhile, the families of the victims were demonstrating in front of the French Foreign Ministry to denounce Libya's refusal to recognize her responsibility in the terrorist attack. But apparently, de Villepin has a very unilateral and practical vision of when politicians are supposed to listen to public opinion.
All of this in just a couple of months.
What did you guys expected from turncoat Dominique? He remains true to his ideas. Mainly deceit and backstabbing led by interests.
This comes from the French Foreign Ministry website. It's a press briefing:
Q - In speaking with certain UTA victims' associations, one has the feeling that the question of compensation for the UTA victims might have been settled too quickly and that the Americans played their hand better by putting pressure on Libya, delaying the lifting of sanctions as long as possible to obtain better negotiating conditions. What's your opinion?
A - I have no comment. I will simply refer you to an important expression that was used in yesterday's statement: the notion of fairness.
Q - If I'm not mistaken, that's the first time you are stressing that notion and comparing the two cases so clearly.
A - It's a natural response when you look at the amounts being mentioned in the two situations, which—when you get right down to it—are the consequences of two terrorist acts.
Q - Is this notion of fairness a new element in your discussions with Libya? Up to this point, it wasn't something we were hearing about.
A- It's a notion that seems very important to us.
More here.
You should check these articles:
Libya cries Lockerbie blackmail
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Raman Shalgham accused France on Friday of blackmail after Paris threatened to block an agreement on lifting UN sanctions unless more money was paid to the families of victims of the bombing of a French airliner in 1989.
"France is using pressure and blackmail and we do not accept this," said Shalgham, adding that his government had made its position clear to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.
Families of the British victims of the Lockerbie bombing on Friday condemned the French government's position.
"If they exercise their veto and further delay compensation to the relatives who live in 21 different nations, I think they will have done a serious disservice to the name of France," said David Ben Aryeah, a spokesman for the British families.
Libya Accuses France Of 'Blackmail'
Meanwhile, U.S. officials in Washington expressed outrage at the French reservations, and said Paris had threatened to use its veto at the U.N. Security Council to block a resolution lifting sanctions against Libya. "The threat has been made and it is still there," one official said. "They're trying to get a better deal for their own people by punishing the Pan Am 103 families and it's absolutely outrageous."
"Blackmail is an ugly word, but that's what the French are doing," a U.S. official said. "They are holding the Lockerbie deal hostage."
"This is nothing but sour grapes," said one U.S. official of the latest row. "We're getting a better deal and they're upset. It's not our fault that the French let their people get screwed."
-------{Libya has already paid €30m under what Tripoli and Paris last October called as "a definitive resolution" of the UTA matter, but the French foreign ministry insisted on Thursday that a "complementary settlement" should now also be made in light of the Lockerbie deal.
The initial sum Libya paid France went to only a third of the victims' families - only those kin who had registered as civil plaintiffs in a French trial of the case -- and each payment ranged from €3 000 to €30 000 euros, compared to the €8.8m to be paid to the families under the Lockerbie arrangement.}---------
Oh good a math problem - no wiggle room in math the universal language.
From the first paragraph we have Libya paid 30 million squiggly L's or Euro's.
From the second we have out of a possible 170 dead peoples families only 1/3 actually filed for money. (Am I the only one who thinks that making these people jump through legal hoops is like kicking someone in the teeth when their down? Very Bertrand of you Frenchie.)
No definite number of recipients but enough for a good guess. 170/3=56.66 or 57, Assuming everybody has a spouse and 2 kids were back to 170 in line for compensation for their dead loved one.
From the second paragraph we get a range of payments from 3,000 euros to 30,000 euros. I'll use the mean of these two numbers which is 16,500 euros.
170 times 16500 = 2,805,000 euros paid out of 30,000,000 euros -
Don't take a mathematician to figure out some people are getting screwed. 27,195,000 euros didn't go to pay off the injured parties at all. Could it have been to pay off airbus for their plane or did it line some political pockets? Of course that question is redundant. This is France were talking about. lol
J.Mayeau,
I hear that Madame Chirac is looking at some new furnishings.
And somehow this tickles my irony-gland. Remember, now, the french were the ones who blocked out our F-111s when we bombed Libya in retaliation for all this. Of course, our under-rested pilots then managed to blow up the French embassy during the bombing, heh.
Quand faut y aller faut y aller :(
I don't like that fact at all.
A lot depends upont this :Was the ridiculous indemnisation on the UTA bombing the result of an agreement accepted by French authorities ?
If so.. nothing else to do now about this than shut up :(
I try to know more about this point. I don't like that much what I could find until know :
http://www.google.fr/search?q=cache:0VPcapIJDnUJ:www.lorient-lejour.com.lb/aujourdhui/infos/infosujetw4.htm+uta%2Bindemnisation%2B1999&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8
« La France ne peut formuler des demandes à la Libye puisque Tripoli avait payé 35 millions de dollars aux victimes (de l’UTA) en 1999 (...) et l’affaire est close », a assuré M. Zouai. En juillet 1999, les autorités libyennes ont en effet procédé au transfert en France de fonds d’indemnisation des familles des victimes de l’attentat à bord de l’UTA. Cette somme, dont le montant avait été fixé par la cour d’assises de Paris, s’élèverait à quelque 30,49 millions d’euros.
------
M. Zouai (Libian ambassador in London) claims that "France can't ask for anything else as 35 M$ where paid to the victims in 1999... then the problem is solved. "
Indeed this indemnisation has been decided from a French court
However, this solution has not been aproved by the families associations who still pressed the French authorities for more action ex: this letter from 19 February when Libya became president of Human rights commission in ONU
http://www.sos-attentats.org/actualite_pages_sup/Lettre_villepin.htm
S.O.S.Attentats exige aussi que de véritables négociations soient entreprises pour qu'une juste indemnisation soit accordée par la Libye à toutes les familles des victimes décédées dans cet attentat.. 17 nationalités sont concernées.14 ans après les faits, certaines familles n'ont toujours pas reçu une indemnisation équitable, à la hauteur des préjudices subis.
---------
"SOS attentats" asks for real negociations for fair indemnisation of the victim's families. 17 different countries are involved and today, 14 years after the bombing some families still did not get a correct indemnisation.
The trouble is way to be closed in the official spheres. On 3 March 2003, the national commission on human rights xrote this :
http://www.commission-droits-homme.fr/binTravaux/AffichageAvis.cfm?IDAVIS=677&iClasse=0
La CNCDH souhaite que la France et ses partenaires, notamment au sein de l’Union européenne, réclament de la Libye des progrès tangibles en matière de respect des droits de l’homme, sur le plan interne comme dans le cadre international. Elle tient en particulier à souligner le contentieux en suspens concernant les actes de terrorisme condamnés par la Cour d’assises de Paris en mars 1999, dans l’affaire du DC 10 d’UTA, s’agissant d’une part de l’extradition des ressortissants libyens condamnés, d’autre part de l’indemnisation des familles des victimes.
-----------------
The commission wishes that France and partners, especially inside EU ask from Libya singnificative improvements in matter of human rights as well inside the country than in international matter. The commission insist on the current rift upon consequences of UTA bombing : extradition of the 6 condemned persons and indemnisations of families
It seems that there was a serious lack of reactions from all French governments since a long time.
I hope I won't have too many occasion for comments like tis.
Fait chier...
Also keep a close eye on the little ones. When the temperature creeps up they will want to go swimming. Inspite of their not knowing how to swim . Only a minute of inattentiveness and they could be gone forever. Here is hoping that you and yours avoid a tragedy. Stay Safe.
Also keep a close eye on the little ones. When the temperature creeps up they will want to go swimming.
SUNBLOCK. A sunburn increases a person's susceptibility to heat stroke.
Kal
