IV
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 246
Expressing the sense of the House denouncing and rejecting a resolution
adopted by Foreign Ministers of the Arab League urging the easing
of United Nations sanctions against Libya which were imposed because
of Libya’s refusal to surrender individuals on its territory who are wanted
in connection with the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 26, 1997
Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. ACK-
ERMAN, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. FRANK of Massa-
chusetts, Mr. FROST, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr.
SCHUMER, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. WEXLER) submitted the following res-
olution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House denouncing and rejecting
a resolution adopted by Foreign Ministers of the Arab
League urging the easing of United Nations sanctions
against Libya which were imposed because of Libya’s
refusal to surrender individuals on its territory who are
wanted in connection with the 1988 terrorist bombing
of Pan Am flight 103.
Whereas the United Nations Security Council adopted Reso-
lution 748 on March 31, 1992, imposing an embargo on
the sale of arms and on international flights against the
state of Libya and in Security Council Resolution 883 on
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November 11, 1993, further tightened economic sanctions
against Libya for its refusal to surrender individuals sus-
pected in connection with the terrorist bombing in 1988
of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which
270 individuals were killed and the terrorist bombing in
1989 of the French ATA flight 772 over Niger, in which
160 individuals were killed;
Whereas the Security Council had repeatedly voted to main-
tain these international sanctions against Libya in view
of the persistent refusal of the Government of Libya to
hand over for trial the two individuals currently in Libya
who are accused of involvement in the terrorist bombing
of Pan Am flight 103 and ATA flight 772;
Whereas the United Nations sanctions provide for legitimate
humanitarian flights to and from Libya for medical and
other reasons, and flights of a religious nature to permit
Libyan residents to participate in the Hadj have been ap-
proved routinely under the United Nations sanctions;
Whereas Libya has repeatedly violated the United Nations
sanctions, most egregiously when an aircraft carrying
Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar el-Kaddafi, landed in
Cairo, Egypt, in July 1996 in order for the Libyan leader
to participate in an Arab summit meeting; and
Whereas the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League meeting
in Cairo on September 21, 1997, adopted a resolution in
which the Ministers invited ‘‘Arab countries to undertake
measures to ease the severity of the embargo imposed on
Libya until a final, peaceful, and just solution to the cri-
sis is reached’’, ‘‘to lift measures freezing Libyan ac-
counts involving money, the source of which is other than
the selling or exporting of oil’’, ‘‘to support Libya’s right
to obtain suitable compensation for human and material
HRES 246 IH
damages and losses it sustains as a result of pertinent
United Nations Security Council resolutions’’, and to ex-
empt from sanctions Libyan ‘‘flights related to participa-
tion of the Libyan political leadership and official delega-
tions in regional and international meetings’’: Now there-
fore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) denounces and rejects in the strongest
terms the resolution adopted on September 21,
1997, by the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League
in their conference in Cairo which invites Arab
states to take action to ease United Nations sanc-
tions against Libya;
(2) reaffirms the commitment of the United
States to support United Nations sanctions against
Libya until the two individuals suspected in connec-
tion with the terrorist bombing of Pam Am flight
103 and UTA flight 772 are turned over to appro-
priate judicial authorities in the United States or the
United Kingdom and France as required by United
Nations Security Council resolutions;
(3) calls upon the President to suspend all
United States assistance to all countries which vio-
late United Nations Security Council sanctions
against Libya; and
(4) requests that the Secretary of State trans-
mit a copy of this resolution to the government of
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each country which is a member of the Arab League
and express to each government the profound con-
cern of the United States about efforts to undermine
the international fight against terrorism by weaken-
ing or violating sanctions imposed by the United Na-
tions Security Council.
Æ