Parry, left, speaks with Own after Libya delivered the letter to the U.N.

UNITED NATIONS, August 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – After Libya formally accepted responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in a letter to the United Nations, Britain confirmed Saturday, August 16, it would "shortly" table a draft Security Council resolution to lift U.N. sanctions against Tripoli .

" Libya has met all the remaining requirements of the U.N. security council on Lockerbie. We are therefore supporting the lifting of sanctions by the U.N.," British Junior Foreign Office Minister Denis MacShane said in a statement.

"Libya has accepted responsibility for that outrage. At the same time it has agreed to pay substantial compensation to the relatives of those who were murdered. It has renounced terrorism and has agreed to co-operate with any further Lockerbie investigation," he elaborated.

Libya's step, after years of talks with the families of the 270 dead, "marks the proper re-emergence of Libya into the international community," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted MacShane as saying.

On Thursday, lawyers representing the families said Libya has signed a deal clearing the way for financial compensation totaling some $2.7 billion.

Under the accord, Tripoli would pay each of the families $10 million (8.8 million euros) in installments based on the lifting of U.S. and U.N. sanctions and the removal of Libya from a U.S. list of countries accused of sponsoring terrorism.

"Our Permanent Representative to the U.N. will table a draft security council resolution to that effect shortly," MacShane pledged.

"We shall remain willing to engage with those who show that they are prepared to change their stance," he said, adding Libya's cooperation was "of great significance for the international community.

"It shows that it is possible to resolve serious security issues through commitment, dialogue and co-operation."

A New York-bound Pan Am Boeing 747 blew up and crashed over Lockerbie, southwest Scotland, on December 21, 1988, after taking off from London, killing all 259 people on board and another 11 on the ground.

In January 2001, a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, one of two Libyan agents charged with the bombing, and sentenced him to life in prison.

Libyan Letter

The Libyan letter was handed Friday to the current president of the U.N. Security Council, Syrian ambassador to the U.N. Mikhail Wehbe by Libyan delegate to the world boy Ahmed Own.

"Libya, as a sovereign state, has facilitated the bringing to justice of the two suspects charged with the bombing of Pan Am 103, and accepts responsibility for the actions of its officials," read the letter, copies of which were distributed to the press.

It also said Libya "has arranged for the payment of appropriate compensation" to the families the 270 victims.

"To this end," noted the Libyan letter, "a special fund has been established and instructions have been issued to transmit the necessary sums to an agreed escrow account within a matter of days."

Libya further said that it was "... committed to be cooperative in the international fight against terrorism and it is also committed ... to bring those who are suspect to justice."

U.S. Welcome

Libya’s letter to the U.N. was accompanied by a letter, also made public, signed by U.N. ambassadors John Negroponte of the United States and Emyr Jones Parry of Britain.

"In view of today's correspondence . . . related to the bombing of Pan Am 103, and in light of actions and commitments that form the background for it, the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States of America are prepared to allow the lifting of the measures set forth by the Council in its resolutions 748 and 883 (sanctions against Libya) once the necessary sums referred to in the Libyan letter have been transferred to the agreed escrow account. We expect Libya to adhere scrupulously to these commitments."

The White House said Friday the United States would not oppose the lifting of sanctions.

But it still has concerns about Muammar Gaddafi’s administration and a dispute with France, which has threatened to block the resolution, that must also be settled to get the resolution passed.

France has threatened to veto the security council resolution unless Libya boosts compensation to the families of the 170 people killed in the bombing of a French U.T.A aircraft over Niger in 1989.

"In recognition of these steps, and to allow the families' settlement to go forward, the United States has notified the United Nations Security Council that it will not oppose the lifting of U.N. Sanctions on Libya, which were suspended in 1999," White House spokesman Scott McCallan said in a statement.

But he also bluntly warned that the Bush administration was not ready to turn the page on Gaddafi’s regime, citing "serious concern" about his policies.

"The Libyan regime's behavior -- including its poor human rights record and lack of democratic institutions, its destructive role in perpetuating regional conflicts in Africa, and its continued and worrisome pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their related delivery systems -- remains a cause for serious concern," argued the statement.

"The United States will intensify its efforts to end threatening elements of Libya 's behavior, and U.S. bilateral sanctions on Libya will remain in full force until Libya addresses these concerns," it added.

" Libya must also continue to take definitive action to assist in the fight against international terrorism."