LIBYAN leader Muammar Gaddafi is to pay up to £2 billion ($3.42bn) to victims of Irish terrorism for his country’s role in supplying shiploads of explosives to the IRA.
About £800 million will go to victims of the violence. First in line will be the 147 families of those caught in bombings in which Semtex, the plastic explosive supplied by Libya, was used.
Libya’s insistence that it will not acknowledge liability means thousands of others affected by the Troubles will come forward for a share of the cash.
A trade deal between Britain and Libya is expected to be part of the historic settlement.
Colonel Gaddafi is seeking to present the payment as a goodwill gesture and is not expected to admit liability.
Semtex supplied by Colonel Gaddafi’s regime was used by the IRA in at least 10 bombings, including the attack on Harrods in London in 1983 and Enniskillen in 1987. The Real IRA used Semtex in Omagh in 1998, killing 29 people and injuring 220.
It was used in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 at Lockerbie, when 270 were killed, for which Libya has paid more then £5m to each family.
A source close to the talks said: “Gaddafi can now make a major humanitarian gesture which will end the legal actions and build diplomatic and business relations with the UK.”
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed at Omagh, said: “A payment by Libya would be recognition that people have unjustly suffered because of their interference in Ireland. It sends a message to anybody who supports terrorism in the future that, no matter how long it takes, victims will pursue them.”
Libya is discussing a £1bn payment for development projects in Northern Ireland, including encouraging agricultural exports to Libya, while a sum of £200m is proposed for projects for to benefit victims and the community.
An additional £314m could be added if the US government agrees to co-operate. This money is left over from an earlier $US1.5bn compensation package for American victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism, including the Lockerbie bombing.
Families received more than £5m each, and it is suggested similar amounts could be paid to US victims of IRA terrorism, or to Irish-born injured who moved to the US.
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