Ulster officials seek Libya compensation

TRIPOLI, Libya, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Northern Ireland officials were in Libya Saturday to negotiate payments to victims of Irish Republican Army violence, observers said.

Three members of Parliament and three Irish peers were in Tripoli to meet with members of Libyan Col. Moammar Gadhafi's authoritarian regime in hopes of redressing deaths caused by weapons supplied by Libya to the IRA in the 1980s, the BBC reported.

The delegation included Democratic Unionist Party MPs Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson, along with other members of several Irish political parties. Donaldson told the broadcaster the visit's purpose was to gain compensation for the victims of past Libyan-aided IRA terrorism. It wasn't reported how much was being demanded.

"It's part of the legacy of the past and what we want to ensure is that we can draw a line over that and develop new relations with Libya," he told the BBC. "When they hear some of the stories, they might understand exactly what these weapons of mass destruction and Semtex (explosives) have done."