ALSO Lockerbie bombing suspects arraigned in Netherlands

April 7, 1999
Web posted at: 9:01 p.m. EDT (0101 GMT)

In this story: Pilgrims fly home, legally Renewed trade U.S. sanctions RELATED STORIES, SITES

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Libya celebrated its newly granted freedom to fly internationally Wednesday by bringing home about 150 Muslim pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, Libyan Airlines made its first legal international flight since 1992 by traveling to Malta. An Air Malta jet made a similar flight to Libya and back.

U.N. sanctions were suspended Monday after the Libyan government handed over two suspects charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

Pilgrims fly home, legally

Libya had broken the U.N. embargo every year since 1994 to fly its citizens to the annual hajj, or pilgrimage, at Mecca. The U.N. ban included military sales to Libya and all activities related to commercial aviation.

On Wednesday, Libyan television showed the 157 pilgrims returning from the Saudi port of Jidda. An Egyptian commercial jetliner also was scheduled to fly from to Tripoli on Wednesday.

Egypt, Malta, Tunisia and Jordan have announced plans to resume flights to Libya.

The Libyan Airlines fleet of 12 jets is badly in need of repairs and upgrades before it can resume a regular schedule of international flights.

Two Libyan planes have been rusting in Cairo since 1992, and the rest have been limited to domestic flights.

Renewed trade

The handover of the Lockerbie suspects will probably open the door to renewed trade between Libya and Western nations.

Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini met Tuesday with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and said his country will support Libya's participation in trade talks between the European Union and Mediterranean nations.

"The handover opens the way to closer relations between our two countries and between Libya and Europe, especially in the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue of the (so-called) Barcelona process," Dini told reporters in Libya.

The Euro-Med partnership is designed to create a free trade zone between both regions by 2010. It was established in 1995 in Barcelona.

Libya also has invited U.S. and European oil firms to return. Oil exports account for 95 percent of Libya's economy.

"Our doors are open to talk with them and to facilitate their operations and their return to Libya," Energy Minister Abdullah Salem al-Badri said Wednesday.

The Italian energy company ENI and several other European firms have expressed interest in returning to Libya, although U.S. companies are unlikely to return soon.

U.S. sanctions

The United States has made clear that it still considers Libya a state sponsor of terrorism. The State Department said Libya's assets in the United States will remain frozen and American trade and travel bans will continue.

"We need to have additional concerns alleviated (by Libya) before we will address modifying sanctions," State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters in Washington.

Libya claims the U.N. embargo has cost the country $24 billion, a figure U.S. officials say is excessive.

The State Department says Gadhafi's strong hold on the economy and slumping world oil prices have led to Libya's economic decline in recent years.

Correspondent Tom Bogdanowicz, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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