TRIPOLI, Libya, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- France and Libya are close to an agreement on new compensation for a 1989 bomb attack on a French airliner over Niger, the BBC reported Saturday.
France has been threatening to use its veto power in the United Nations to block another deal between Libya and relatives of victims of the 1988 Pan Am flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, after they received a vastly higher settlement.
But senior officials from both countries expressed hope for a new deal as talks were held Friday in Tripoli between representatives of the French families and Libyan officials.
Relatives of the 270 Lockerbie victims are expected to receive some $10 million for every victim. Families of the 170 Niger victims, by contrast, received no more than $33,000 for each victim.
