Libya set to pay out £2m each to victims of IRA attacks

Campaigners trumpet compensation package after talks with Tripoli and British Foreign Office

Suzanne Breen, Northern Editor

Col Gadaffi: £2bn financial package

The Libyan and British governments are on the verge of finalising a deal which could see IRA victims securing up to £2m (€2.4m) each as compensation for Tripoli having provided weapons to republicans during the Troubles, campaigners have said.

Willie Frazer of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) said a £2bn financial package from Libya was on the table after negotiations involving Colonel Gadaffi's regime, the British Foreign Office, and campaigners.

Apart from the IRA victims' compensation, half the money from the package would be invested in the North's economy, Frazer said. "I'm told £1bn could be used for economic projects. I'll be arguing that Border areas, so often ignored, are targeted. The IRA campaign hit these places hard."

Although the package will be sold as cross-community and reconciliatory, IRA victims and the unionist community will be the major beneficiaries, and many nationalist victims of the Troubles may feel aggrieved.

A total of 158 people, bereaved or injured in IRA attacks, put their names to a class action against Libya for supplying the Provisionals with guns and semtex. Libya has already paid $2.7bn to the families of those killed at Lockerbie in 1988 on Pan Am flight 103.

Frazer said four Americans on the IRA victims' class action – who were injured or bereaved in republican attacks in Britain – had already received $3m compensation each.

He believed a similar payout would be made to the other 154 British and Irish victims in the class action: "It will send a message to states which sponsor terrorism – sooner or later you'll be held accountable.

"Money won't bring back the dead but it will help families living in poverty since the breadwinner was murdered."

Frazer said around £800m of the package would be paid to victims. Apart from the 154 individuals on the class action – who will receive the biggest payments – the Sunday Tribune has been told there will be two other victims' schemes.

Smaller sums will be paid to victims of republican violence not involved in the class action. Victims of loyalist and state violence will be eligible for similarly smaller payments.

Sources also said £200m would be used for reconciliation projects in the North. One reportedly involves FAIR running a new victims' centre where the injured and bereaved can receive counselling or physical treatment as required. The centre would also house a living memorial museum.

Jonathan Ganesh, a security guard injured in the IRA's 1996 Canary Wharf bombing, said: "I can't confirm the details but things are looking very promising. Those injured in the docklands' attack were mainly immigrant cleaners, toilet attendants and security guards.

"They struggle to survive. Compensation will pay for help for the likes of Zaoui Berezag who suffered severe brain damage and needs 24/7 care." Ganesh, whose mother came from Limerick, said the money would make a "huge difference" to victims' lives.

September 5, 2010

Comments

#1 BarryH commented, on September 5, 2010 at 9:14 p.m.:

Such hypocrisy. So Libya is being held to ransom but not the arms manufacturers. Does this mean that the British and US govts are now going to pursue their arms manufacturers to pay compensation to the millions that they have killed or injured around the world. My deepest sympathies go to those victims, direct and indirect. They should be given compensation directly by the British but to penalise another state ie Libya for a problem that was created by the British Govt and by using that money (building more community centres) to try and buy new credibility for that Govt is absurd. Libya was wrong to do what it did and now that they are trying to find their way back into World favour, they are being held to ransom for the mistakes of the more powerful. As we saw with the Bloody Sunday enquiry, Sorry seems to be the only word (that matters) and the British are telling the Libyan's to do their dirty work for them

#2 Sarah Cohen commented, on September 5, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.:

I was shocked to read that USA victims of IRA terrorism have been given compensation by the Libyan Governemnt. The Libyans should feel very ashamed as all victims are equal regardless of their nationality. I think the question should really be is the life of a USA Citizen worth more than that of an Irish or UK Citizen.

#3 joe commented, on September 6, 2010 at 2 a.m.:

Can anyone provide a link to the names of the US citizens that received a payout? I can't find any reports in the US about this.

#4 mohamed commented, on September 6, 2010 at 4:46 a.m.:

when will the reall victims of Ghdafy regime, the libyan people get their compensation? This is the real question that everybody should ask

#5 emma commented, on September 6, 2010 at 5:43 a.m.:

Yes, I agree with you Sarah. How did the IRA victims who are USA citizens manage to get compensation from Libya. What a disgrace on both the UK and Irish Governments, they must be so weak that it took this long.

My husband is a US citizen and I think I will apply for citizenship as our Irish Government does not care about it's people.

#6 Johnny H commented, on September 6, 2010 at 10:38 p.m.:

This is all very welcome but the most important aspect to me is the fact that the IRA will now go down in history as terrorists, not an army. State sponsored terrorism.

#7 John commented, on September 6, 2010 at 11:43 p.m.:

Surely, the people of Northern Ireland have suffered so much. Why did the USA get compensation from Libya first and everyone else had to fight for compensation.

It is immensely sad to have help some victims and not others, feel sad for the Irish and UK victims that it took so long to gain justice.

#8 David commented, on September 8, 2010 at 1:28 p.m.:

Will the Nationalist/Catholic recieve similar compensation from the british government? After all, they provided Arms and training to the loyalists...who murdered hundreds of innocent Catholics with those weapons.

#9 janice commented, on September 9, 2010 at 8:21 a.m.:

Terrorism is actually that. Good luck to the IRA victims as they have suffered so much. David your comments are very appalling as we are talking about innocent victims. If you feel that IRA have suffered please start a campaign to help them.

#10 Gary commented, on September 9, 2010 at 10:53 a.m.:

Will the British and American governments also be offering a similar level of compensation to the innocent civilians it has killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Sudan, Serbia and god knows how many more countries if you include the right wing state sponsored terrorists on their own books during the 70's and 80's. I suspect not..

#11 David commented, on September 9, 2010 at 7:28 p.m.:

Janice, are you really saying there were no innocent victims killed by british weapons supplied to loyalist terrorists?

#12 Janice commented, on September 10, 2010 at 3:05 a.m.:

David, what I'm saying is " if you feel that that their is injustice in the World maybe you should try to right it instead of trying to insult the victims of terrorism who have done something about it.

Please if you feel an injustice please do something about it do not criticize those you have done something about it. Shame on you and others who have no courage. God bless all victims of terrorism. I admire their courage, maybe if you had lost a child to a Libyan IRA Bomb you would have more kindness for those who have suffered.

#13 Michael commented, on September 10, 2010 at 9:58 a.m.:

David, Of all those killed in the approximately 30 years of terrorism nearly 56% of those murdered were killed by nationalist terrorists, primarily the Provisional IRA. And of Irish nationalists murdered most of them were killed by the Provos or some other nationalist terrorist grouping.

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