A deal to compensate the relatives of the 270 victims of the Lockerbie bombingis set to be announced after United Nations sources said Libya, Britain and theUnited States had finally reached an agreement.
Previously, acceptance of a deal has depended on Libya taking responsibilityfor the attack, renouncing terrorism and agreeing to cooperate in furtherinvestigations.
In return, UN sanctions imposed on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime in thewake of the 1988 outrage would be permanently lifted.
Talks between the three countries, held in London on Monday, were described bythe Foreign Office as "constructive".
And diplomatic sources at the United Nations in New York indicated a deal mayhave already been reached by the governments, though there was no officialconfirmation from any of the parties involved.
Matt Berkley, whose brother, 29-year-old law lecturer Alistair was a passengeron the doomed jumbo jet, said he had been told that Libya may go to the UN tocreate a compensation account as early as tomorrow.
That would clear the way for Stg £1.6 billion in compensation to go to thefamilies of the 270 people who died when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up overLockerbie, Scotland.
The compensation deal is expected to provide about #6 million for relatives ofeach victim.
However, Mr Berkley said he would refuse to accept an estimated Stg £1 millioncompensation from Libya which he as an individual family member could beentitled to, because he did not believe the regime had been proved guilty.There was no "credible evidence" that Libya was to blame, he said.
And he feared that an admission of guilt from Tripoli would mean an end to anyfurther investigations into the tragedy which might turn up firm evidencepointing to the true culprits.
Mr Berkley said he was unwilling to sign away his right to sue thoseresponsible for the death of his brother.
"I went through a process of trying to work out what to do, and it justbecame clear to me that I would feel bad if I took the money and good if Irefused it," Mr Berkley said.
"I haven't seen what I would consider credible evidence that Libya did it orthat any admission by the Libyans would be truthful, rather than simply theresult of them being put under enormous pressure by the internationalcommunity."
Representatives of Libya, Britain and the US met as part of a series of talksheld since the January 2001 conviction of Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed AlMegrahi for the bombing.
David Ben-Aryeah, a spokesman for the UK Families Flight 103 group, said: "There has already been a ruling by a federal district judge in New Yorkthat provided a certain percentage of families sign up to the deal, it will goahead.
"If this gentleman does not wish to sign up that is his decision, but it willnot stop any deal going through. An individual's decision not to sign cannot andmust not be allowed to block or inhibit the rights of other people."
A security council resolution passed in 1992 banned arms sales and air linksto Libya in an effort to force Gaddafi's government to hand over the two Libyansindicted in the Pan Am bombing. After the men were handed over for trial inApril 1999, the council suspended sanctions indefinitely.
PA