"sharkius"  wrote in message news:n27dpu$nep$1@trimpas.omnitel.net...


Nu ble 88ais... bet po to sedejo sau tyliai 25 metus, ir butu dar tiek

Libya played a high-profile role in negotiating the release of a group of 
foreign hostages seized in the Philippines by the Abu Sayyaf Group, 
reportedly in exchange for a ransom payment. The hostages included citizens 
of France, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, Finland, the Philippines, and 
Lebanon. The payment of ransom to kidnappers only encourages additional 
hostage taking, and the Abu Sayyaf Group, emboldened by its success, did 
seize additional hostages--including a US citizen--later in the year. 
Libya's behavior and that of other parties involved in the alleged ransom 
arrangement served only to encourage further terrorism and to make that 
region far more dangerous for residents and travelers.

At year's end, Libya had yet to comply fully with the remaining UN Security 
Council requirements related to Pan Am 103: accepting responsibility, paying 
appropriate compensation, disclosing all it knows, and renouncing terrorism. 
The United States remains dedicated to maintaining pressure on the Libyan 
Government until it does so. Qadhafi stated publicly that his government had 
adopted an antiterrorism stance, but it remains unclear whether his claims 
of distancing Libya from its terrorist past signify a true change in policy.

Libya also remained the primary suspect in several other past terrorist 
operations, including the Labelle discotheque bombing in Berlin in 1986 that 
killed two US servicemen and one Turkish civilian and wounded more than 200 
persons. The trial in Germany of five suspects in the bombing, which began 
in November 1997, continued in 2000. Although Libya expelled the Abu Nidal 
organization and distanced itself from the Palestinian rejectionists in 
1999, it continued to have contact with groups that use violence to oppose 
the Middle East Peace Process, including the Palestine Islamic Jihad and the 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

http://www.terrorismfiles.org/countries/libya.html