Libya starts to pay compensation to Berlin bombing victims

Libya has said that the first installment of its compensation for a 1986 Berlin nightclub bombing is being transferred to Germany, a German lawyer said Wednesday.

Ulrich von Jeinsen, the lawyer representing German victims of the bombing, said that Saleh Abdussalam, General Secretary of the Gaddafi Foundation, told him that the money "left Tripoli" on Tuesday and it would take a few days to appear on German bank accounts.

Meanwhile, Said Abdulaati, Libya's ambassador to Germany, said Tuesday that Libya had paid 15 million dollars to the German side "in line with the agreement reached with the German lawyers".

Under an agreement reached in August between Libya and Germany,Tripoli will pay altogether 35 million dollars in compensation forthe 160 German victims of the 1968 bombing.

Germany said that the Libyan intelligence was involved in the bombing at the "La Belle" discotheque in the then West Berlin in which three died and 200 wounded. Other victims were American soldiers for whom Washington and Tripoli are still negotiating compensations.

The Libyan-German agreement calls for the first installment to be paid five days after its signing and the rest in December and next May.

The German press recently reported that Libya had not paid the promised first installment on time, casting shadow over a planned trip to Tripoli in mid-October by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

German government spokesman Bela Anda said Wednesday that Libya's payment was in "appropriate timeframe" and for the moment, nothing stood in the way of Schroeder's trip to Libya.

Source: Xinhua