Mandela refused to be silenced over Lockerbie jet bombing trial venue
Britain frantically tried to stop Nelson Mandela commenting on the trial of two Libyans accused of blowing up a passenger jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, at a 1997 leaders’ summit held in the country, newly released documents revealed today.
The South African president backed a plan for the suspects to be tried in a country outside of the UK and US.
But any attempt to raise the issue at a meeting of the 54-nation Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Edinburgh would be “disastrous”, according to British officials.
The regime of Muammar Qaddafi was blamed for the atrocity and put under sanctions by the US and the UK.
Qaddafi styled himself King of Kings of Africa and sought to offset western pressure with African allegiances.
Libya had been a patron of Mandela’s African National Congress during the anti-apartheid struggle. Libyan dictator Qaddafi was killed in 2011 following uprisings across the Middle East, bringing to an end his 42-year rule.
During the uprising, South Africa attempted to play a mediation role after a Nato-led bombing campaign was launched to protect civilians targeted by the regime.
As the 1997 Commonwealth Summit loomed, the UK’s new prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, was pressed into writing to Mandela to ensure there was not an open division on the issue. A week before the event, Mr Blair tried to dissuade the liberation hero from discussing the topic during the meetings.
“We have a lot of other things to talk about,” Mr Blair wrote. “But I would welcome a further private discussion when we meet next week.”
Two Libyan intelligence agents were accused of putting a suitcase bomb on Pan Am flight 103, which blew up over Scotland in 1988 as it headed to New York, killing 270 people on the plane and on the ground.
British officials wanted to try the two men in Scotland, but Libya refused to hand them over for trial, prompting the UN to impose an air and arms embargo on Tripoli. Mandela offered South Africa as a neutral trial venue, but this idea was rejected.
British officials learnt two weeks before the summit that Mandela was travelling to the Edinburgh conference via Libya, and warned Mr Blair’s office of the “sensitive situation”, according to official papers released by the UK’s national archives today.
Mandela travelled by road from Egypt for his visit to Libya, which meant that sanctions were not breached, said a foreign office official.
“Nevertheless it may attract embarrassing press attention particularly with [the heads of government meeting] taking place in Scotland, where feelings on Lockerbie run high,” the official wrote.
The note to Mr Blair’s office added: “The Foreign Secretary thinks it is important that we point out the sensitivity of these issues to him and extinguish any thoughts he may harbour of stimulating a collective discussion on Lockerbie.”
The attempt to silence Mandela failed and his call for a third-country venue for the trial dominated coverage of the meeting.
Mandela told a news conference that he had not raised the issue with Mr Blair.
“I have never thought in dealing with this question that it is correct for any particular country to be the complainant, the prosecutor and the judge at the same time. Justice cannot be said to be done in that situation,” he said.
A compromise was reached and the two men stood trial three years later at a special temporary Scottish court in the Netherlands.
Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was found guilty in 2001 of mass murder and sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 27 years. The second man was acquitted.
Al Megrahi was released from prison in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was terminally ill with cancer. He died in Libya in 2012. His family has continued to fight to clear his name.
Details of the diplomatic exchanges are included in a file of released documents that cover the first months of Mr Blair’s 10-year premiership.
I have never thought it is correct for any country to be the complainant, the prosecutor and the judge at the same time
NELSON MANDELA
Former South African president