August 22, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-us-Sani 23, 1424

PARIS, Aug 21: France said on Thursday that Britain had agreed to delay a vote on a draft UN Security Council resolution that would lift sanctions imposed on Libya over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, a measure Paris had hinted it would veto.

The British-sponsored resolution would withdraw the 11-year-old sanctions because Tripoli has accepted responsibility and offered compensation for the bombing.

But France has hinted it would veto the resolution unless Libya came up with similar compensation for a 1989 attack on a French airliner also blamed on Tripoli.

“An agreement has been reached for a delay in the Security Council examination of Britain’s draft resolution on the lifting of sanctions against Libya,” French spokeswoman Marie Masdupuy told reporters.

She did not say how long the “delay” might last or give any details.

The delay was announced after contacts between French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and his counterparts from Britain, the US and Spain, Jack Straw, Colin Powell and Ana Palacio, the spokeswoman said.

She said de Villepin and Mr Powell had spoken by telephone on Wednesday, but did not elaborate.

Paris and Washington are still trying to reduce tension after bitter disagreement over the US-led invasion of Iraq. The US State Department has said Washington officials had made frequent contact with Paris urging France not to scuttle the painstakingly negotiated deal.—AFP