NEWARK, N.J. – Today, U.S. Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Carl Levin (D-MI) called upon Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to focus her upcoming trip to Libya—the first by a Secretary of State in more than 50 years—to prevail upon the Libyan government to fulfill the settlement obligations it has made to American victims of Libyan terrorism.

    On July 31, Congress passed legislation championed by Sens. Lautenberg and Levin that would implement a final settlement agreement and resolve all outstanding U.S. terrorism claims against the Libyan government, including the amount owed by Libya for the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, the 1986 Labelle discotheque bombing in Berlin, Germany and other cases.  A few days later, President Bush signed that bill, the Libyan Claims Resolution Act (P.L. 110 - 301), into law.

    On August 14, U.S. and Libyan officials signed the final comprehensive settlement agreement.  To date, Libya has not made the final settlement payments.

    “As the first Secretary of State to visit Libya in more than fifty years, we urge you to focus your trip on prevailing on the Government of Libya to fulfill the settlement obligations it has made to American victims of Libyan terrorism,” Sens. Lautenberg and Levin said in their letter to Secretary Rice.  “Passage of the Libyan Claims Resolution Act signaled to the Government of Libya the U.S. Congress’s willingness to allow the normalization of U.S.-Libyan bilateral relations to move forward once the August 14, 2008 agreement is fully implemented.  Accordingly, we expect that a primary purpose of your trip will be to press the Libyans to follow through on this agreement.”

    A full copy of the Senators’ letter can be found at Sen. Lautenberg’s website.

    Specifically, the Libyan Claims Resolution Act:

        •    Provides for Libya to set up a fund to compensate U.S. victims of Libyan terror based on a U.S.-Libyan brokered settlement agreement;

        •    Requires the Secretary of State to make a certification to Congress that the fund contains adequate funds to pay the settlements in full and to pay fair compensation to others who died or were injured as the result of Libyan terror; and

        •    Only once Libya has paid adequate money into the fund to compensate all victims, provides for the dismissal of cases against Libya arising from terrorist acts that occurred before Libya was taken off the state sponsors of terrorism list in 2006.

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