In this story:

• Libyan team confers with U.N. legal officers
• Issue fuels national pride in Libya
• Gadhafi honors leaders for violating sanctions
• Related stories and sites

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Libya will not hand over two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing for trial in a former U.S. air base in the Netherlands because it fears they may be kidnapped by the United States, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said.

"America is able, in case the trial is held in an American base, to kidnap the suspects and take them to America," the Libyan leader said Wednesday night. His comments were carried Thursday by Egypt's Middle East News Agency.

The Dutch and British governments signed an agreement September 18 to use Camp Zeist, 20 miles southeast of the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, for the proposed trial of the two Libyans.

Camp Zeist was part of a U.S. Air Force base from 1954 to 1993, but it is now part of a Dutch air base.

The two Libyan suspects, Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Lamen Kahalifa Fhimah, have been indicted in the United States and Britain in connection with the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.

Libya has accepted a compromise proposal by the U.S. and British governments to try the suspects in the Netherlands by Scottish judges under Scottish law, but it has demanded assurances for the safety and handling of the two men.

Britain and the United States have rejected the Libyan demands.

The United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions in 1992, banning direct flights to and from Libya, to try to force Gadhafi to surrender the two Libyans.

Wreckage of Pam Am Flight 103

Libya sent a team to New York on Wednesday to confer with U.N. legal officers about the two suspects.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said the group was meeting Hans Corell, the undersecretary-general for legal affairs, but that he could not say how long they would be at U.N. headquarters.

Libya's U.N. Ambassador Abuzed Dorda told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that his government insisted on changes in the British-American proposal, particularly where the two men, if convicted, would serve their sentences.

He said they could not be imprisoned in Britain but had to serve prison terms in the Netherlands or Libya, a condition which Washington and London say is not acceptable.

Dora also said his government needed ironclad assurances to safeguard the security, health, personal, legal and religious rights of the suspects, issues that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan has been asked to clarify.

Meanwhile, judging by Libyan's statements and the views of Western diplomats, Gadhafi largely has succeeded in convincing his people to put self-esteem before acceptance of U.N. demands, even it if means more punishment.

"I long for the day when I can fly out of Tripoli airport. I long for the day when the rights of Libyans are acknowledged with the same degree of respect as those of other nationalities," said Jumaa Abdullah, a 32-year-old accountant.

"But there is no way that I would want this if it means succumbing to American and British demands," he said. "This is no longer just a matter of law, it is a matter of pride -- mine, that of my family, that of my country."

Libyan U.N. Ambassador Abuzed Dorda addresses the 53rd session of the U.N. General Assembly, Tuesday

Western diplomats based in Tripoli say, undoubtedly, some Libyans oppose Gadhafi's stand on the Lockerbie issue, but that Gadhafi's popularity is rising on the sanctions issue.

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that is partly because subsidized basic commodities allow Libyans a relatively comfortable life despite sanctions.

On the streets of Tripoli, many people indicate they share Gadhafi's view. Several young men, laughing and cheering while crossing a downtown street Wednesday, sang songs praising the Brother Leader, as Gadhafi is sometimes called.

"Why not sing about him?" Bashir Abdel-Makarem said. "He is the one man who has faced American arrogance and aggression and still helped us hold our heads high."

Gadhafi has also taken his campaign beyond Libya's borders. On Wednesday he presented 11 African leaders with medals of honor to thank them for violating the U.N. air embargo against Libya, the Middle East News Agency said.

Four of the leaders were present at the ceremony in the northern coastal town of Sirte.

They were presidents Ibrahim Bare Mainassara of Niger, Idriss Deby of Chad, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, MENA said.

Medals were also received on behalf of presidents Omar el-Bashir of Sudan, Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali, Yaya Jammeh of Gambia, Laurent Kabila of Congo, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso and Ange-Felix Patasse of the Central African Republic.

All have in the past three months flown to Libya in violation of the air embargo.

The Organization of African Unity announced in June that it would no longer abide by the air embargo.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.