Libya seeks cash for US strikes

LIBYA’S Gaddafi Foundation, which negotiated the terms of a compensation deal for victims of Berlin nightclub bombing, today demanded US compensation for subsequent air strikes against the north African country.

The foundation expressed "complete satisfaction" with the deal announced today, under which Libya will compensate victims of the 1986 bombing at the La Belle discotheque frequented by US servicemen in what was then West Berlin.

But "in the same context we should not however forget that this painful incident does not represent but a part of the major sorrowful picture because as a consequence of this incident air raids were launched on the two cities Tripoli and Benghazi" early on April 16, 1986, the foundation said.

The strikes killed 41 people and wounded 226 others, "who undoubtedly deserve to be properly compensated and honoured and those who carried (out) this action be brought to justice", said the foundation, which is chaired by Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi.

The foundation said it "hopes that solving the problem of ’La Belle’ be part of the whole solution to that major unfortunate and more painful picture".

Two GIs and a Turkish woman were killed and more than 250 people were wounded in the Berlin attack.

Immediately after the bombing in Berlin, former US president Ronald Reagan accused Libya, which has never accepted blame, and retaliated by ordering airstrikes on its capital.

Libya’s ambassador to Germany, Said Abdulaati, said Tripoli had agreed to pay a total of $US35 million ($49.26 million) to non-US nationals who were hurt at the disco.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10410254%255E1702,00.html