“Libya has genuinely become an important international partner for the UK on many levels. For example, Libya is now a vital partner for the UK in guaranteeing a secure energy future for the UK and is also a key partner in the fight against terrorism.
While I recognise that this will be of little comfort to you, it is vital for the UK’s present and future security that this continues.” – Rammell at the Foreign Office to Ganesh on BP’s investment in Libya, November 2008
THE SUNDAY TIMES: At 7.01pm on February 9, 1996, a huge lorry bomb exploded at South Quay in London’s Docklands, killing two people and injuring more than 100 others. The blast ripped a 32ft crater and caused £85m of damage.
Jonathan Ganesh, 37, a security guard from east London, was buried alive in the rubble. His two friends, Inam Bashir and John Jeffries, were killed in the news kiosk where they worked.
For Ganesh, the blame for the attack lies not only with the IRA, which planted the bomb, but also with Libya, which is suspected of supplying the Semtex plastic explosive used in it. He is among the bomb victims and their families who want compensation from Tripoli.
“The government has let the Libyans off scot-free,” he said. “The money doesn’t bother me. But I can’t let my friends die like that. They were blown to pieces. They couldn’t even be identified.”
The compensation campaign involving 200 British victims has been frustrated to date by the government’s reluctance to support the case — even though Libya agreed to pay a small number of Americans who were victims of IRA terror attacks.
Ministerial letters obtained by The Sunday Times reveal this reluctance is partly explained by fears of jeopardising relations with the newly rehabilitated regime of Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. In a letter to the victims’ lawyers dated October 7, 2008, Gordon Brown wrote: “Libya would not support or be prepared to discuss a bilateral settlement of these cases and doing so would entail substantial risks.”
Another letter from Bill Rammell, then a Foreign Office minister, dated November 6, 2008, also says the government will not intervene in negotiations, explaining that Libya is a vital partner for a “secure energy future” and in the fight against terrorism.
The letters provide new damning evidence of the government’s eagerness to maintain good relations with Libya, in which trade appears to weigh more heavily on ministers’ minds than the plight of British victims of terrorism. >>> | Sunday, September 06, 2009
