The Past Returns to Haunt Qaddafi

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LIBYA

The past returns to haunt Qaddafi

MUAMMAR QADDAFI'S hopes of fending off further international retribution hung in the balance at the end of 1991. Hurried moves to distance himself from past acts of terrorism did little to dampen demands that Libyan agents be handed over for trial. The autumn announcements that France, the US and the UK had charged six Libyan nationals with involvement in two separate aircraft explosions in the late 1980s put Libya firmly back in the firing line. Faced with Western calls for tighter sanctions and even an air strike on the country, Qaddafi replaced his intelligence chief and detained all six of the alleged culprits.

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