WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush removed most economic sanctions on Libya, clearing the way for the payment of another tranche of compensation to the victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
The restrictions were removed after Libya addressed global concerns over its possession of dangerous weapons, but Tripoli remains on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, the State Department said.
Bush in an executive order Monday removed remaining economic restrictions on aviation services with Libya, permitting direct, scheduled air service and regular passenger charter flights, and unblocked approximately 1.3 billion dollars in frozen assets.
"This step is taken in response to actions that Libya has taken over the past nine months to address concerns by the international community about its weapons of mass destruction programs," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.
The move came ahead of Libya`s September 22 deadline for the United States to lift the sanctions to pave the way for payment of the next tranche of compensation to families of those killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
"We expect the families of the victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 to receive over one billion (dollars) in additional compensations under their settlement, money which would have otherwise reverted to Libya," a senior US administration official said, on condition of anonymity.
Some American families of the 270 victims of the bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, have pressed Bush to remove all sanctions, including dropping Libya from the State Department`s list of "state sponsors of terrorism," to allow for the payment of the full 2.7 billion dollars in compensation under the terms of a deal reached last year.
The breakdown of the compensation is not immediately clear.
Under last year`s deal, Libya agreed to pay the compensation and accept responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing in return for the lifting of UN and US sanctions.
The United Nations lifted international sanctions against Libya last September and Washington dropped some measures earlier this year but kept others, including those related to terrorism.
Ereli said the assets that were unfrozen belonged to both Libyan and non-Libyan entities.
William Burns, the US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, met with Libyan officials last week in London as part of ongoing discussions about all aspects of the bilateral relations.
They included Libya`s renunciation of weapons of mass destruction, its alleged support for terrorism and the Pan Am 103 bombing.
Ereli stressed that Monday`s step did not constitute full normalization of relations between the United States and Libya.
"I would remind you that Libya still is on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and is subject to sanctions pursuant to that," he said.
"I would also note that our diplomatic representation in Libya is that of a liaison office; we certainly don`t have full diplomatic representation there."
He said the United States had other issues of concern with Libya that were subject of a bilateral dialogue, including human rights, political liberalization and economic modernization, as well as regional political developments.
Ereli said that "as we continue progress toward more normalized relations, that dialogue will deepen" on these issues.
On concerns over weapons of mass destruction, he said Libya had worked closely with the United States, Britain and international groups to "verifiably eliminate its WMD and Missile Technology Control Regime-class missile programs."
"Looking back over those nine months, I think we`ve seen some significant actions taken. We have removed all critical elements of Libya`s undeclared nuclear program," he said.