After losing their son Rick, a junior at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, the Monetti family didn’t expect much. They never expected a formal admission of responsibility from the Libyan government, whose intelligence agents were implicated in the attack. They certainly never thought Libya would be paying them billions of dollars in reparations.

‘All of these things are more than we ever thought we’d get,’ Eileen Monetti said.

Thirteen years after the airliner went down over Lockerbie, Scotland, with 270 people aboard, including 35 students studying with SU’s Department of International Programs Abroad, families of victims are likely to receive these unexpected amounts. On Aug. 15 the Libyan government took responsibility for the attack and told the U.N. Security Council that it would pay between $5 million and $10 million to the victim’s’ families if the U.N. lifted its sanctions. Libya began transferring the $2.7 billion in reparations to an international bank account Wednesday.

If the council votes to lift the sanctions this week, payment could begin a week later, said James Kreindler of Kreindler and Kreindler, the law firm representing the families. So far, 267 families have agreed to accept the reparations. Whether they receive the minimum of $5 million or the full $10 million will depend on whether the U.S. lifts its own, separate sanctions, he said.

Bush administration officials have said that it is unlikely the U.S. will lift its sanction, citing Libya’s weapons programs, poor human rights record and frequent meddling in other African nations. Melvyn Levitsky, a professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said that despite its tough posturing, the U.S. government is likely to follow the wishes of the families.

‘I think the families and what they want done are really going to be a controlling factor in all of this,’ Levitsky said.

U.S. opposition may not be the only obstacle in the settlement. France has threatened to veto the resolution until Libya agrees to pay additional reparations for the bombing of a French Union des Transports Aeriens airliner over Niger in 1989. Levitsky feels that the French may also be posturing and are unlikely to use their security council veto.

‘France obviously doesn’t want a veto, but they will use it as a leverage to get the Libyans to up the ante in the UTA case,’ Levitsky said.

Monetti, who was critical of the cash settlement proposal when it was originally announced last July, is still not satisfied, despite Libya’s admission of responsibility. She believes Libya should not stand to gain anything from the payment of reparations.

‘I’m not crazy about having strings attached,’ Monetti said.

The diplomatic bargaining surrounding the settlement frustrates even those families that will accept the reparations, Monetti said. As for the three families that have rejected the agreement, Monetti could not speculate about their reasons.

‘A lot of people have their own scruples about whether or not Libya should be getting off this easy or this cheap,’ she said.

Published on August 24, 2003 at 12:00 pm