UNITED NATIONS: United States, Britain and France are again at logger heads over the British-sponsored resolution which would lift sanctions against Libya.

The French government threatened to veto the resolution on Tuesday until Paris secured an additional deal with Libya aimed at compensating victims of the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner.

Washington and London lined up behind a draft resolution ending the sanctions, after Libya last month formally accepted blame for the Pan Am bombing, renounced terrorism, and set aside $2.7 billion as compensation for the 270 victims’ families.

The huge sum embarrassed Paris, which had settled for just $34 million from Libya a few years ago for the UTA attack, which claimed 170 lives. The French authorities then threatened to block the sanctions-lifting resolution until Libya came through with more money for the UTA families.

Bowing to France’s veto threat, the Security Council on Tuesday put off for three more days a vote to lift UN sanctions imposed on Libya over the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

But US officials said the threat had astonished them, pointing out that France had previously pressed for a quick end to the sanctions after declaring itself satisfied with an earlier compensation deal with Libya over the UTA attack.

After four hours of closed-door talks as the Lockerbie victims’ relatives waited in the gallery of the otherwise empty council chamber, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry announced a delay until Friday.