British government accused of betrayal after allowing Libyan defector Moussa Koussa to travel to conference in Qatar
Libya's most high profile defector, foreign minister Moussa Koussa, flew out of the UK on Tuesday to take part in a critical peace conference amid anger from Lockerbie campaigners and accusations of "betrayal" levelled at the British government.
Koussa made his surprise departure to Doha after the Foreign Office said he was "a free individual, who can travel to and from the UK as he wishes".
He was expected to "offer insights" in advance of the conference on Libya in the Qatari capital, being held with representatives from the Benghazi-based opposition. The UN, Arab League and EU will all be represented, as will France, Italy, Germany, Turkey and others.
But families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing accused the British government of "betrayal" for allowing the former minister to leave the country. Brian Flynn, the brother of J P Flynn, who died in the 1988 attack and now organises the Victims of Pan Am 103 Incorporated campaign group in New York, said the UK authorities had "crossed a line" by allowing Koussa to attend the conference and thereby suggest he is a peace negotiator rather than, as they believe, a key instigator of the bombing.
Other relatives said they were incensed that the defector was being allowed to travel, while a Conservative MP accused the government of allowing Britain to be used as "a transit lounge for alleged war criminals". Koussa, a longtime Gaddafi loyalist, is said to be seeking to establish whether he has a role to play in the rebel movement along with other senior defectors from the Gaddafi regime – perhaps by brokering a deal between Tripoli and rebel-held Benghazi.
It is understood he spent a week being debriefed by the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, at a safe house. He was also questioned by Dumfries and Galloway police about the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, in which 270 people died, though was he was not a suspect. William Hague, the foreign secretary, had insisted that Koussa would not be given immunity from prosecution. He was helped to defect by MI6 after leaving Tripoli for Tunisia on what was initially described as a private visit.
The hope in Whitehall is that Koussa's lenient treatment by the UK authorities will send a positive signal to other would-be Libyan defectors as part of a broader strategy of eroding Gaddafi's position. He is expected to return to the UK after his Middle East trip.
The Doha conference is being billed as a follow-up by the "contact group" formed after the London conference on Libya last month. Hague is co-hosting it with the Qatari prime minister, Hamed bin Jassem, but Hillary Clinton is staying away, perhaps signalling an attempt by the US to leave the heavy lifting to Europeans and Arabs.
"I think the British are being played by him," said Flynn. "He has convinced them he can be valuable in this process, but he is not the suave diplomat in the suit sitting on the sidelines, he is one of the key guys who masterminded [the bombing of] Pan Am flight 103. He is a stated enemy of the British government. Our feeling is that the British government gave a nod to Lockerbie by questioning him two days before this conference, but that feels disingenuous.
"The Scottish and American prosecutors on Lockerbie are being betrayed by the politicians and the diplomats. Cameron has been good on Libya, but this sounds an awful lot like Tony Blair is back in charge."
Flynn's group, the largest victims' group in the US, seeks to discover the truth behind the bombing and bring justice for those who died. He said the families believed the decision to allow Koussa to travel to the meeting in Qatar was part of a British strategy to encourage other defectors to flee to Britain from Gaddafi's regime, as there was no way either the rebels or the regime would trust him as an intermediary.
Diplomats say the aim of the one-day event is to take stock of the Libyan situation. But it will be dominated by the rejection by the Libyan opposition of the African Union plan for a ceasefire and talks on a transition period with Gaddafi and his family staying in place – a position unacceptable to the opposition in Benghazi.
The crisis has become a long haul, with a military stalemate and no immediate prospect that the Libyan leader is preparing to surrender. British officials said Hague will reiterate demands that Gaddafi step down and allow the Libyan people to determine their own future in line with UN security council resolutions.
Agenda items include plans for humanitarian aid and stabilisation assistance, with the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Red Cross being tasked to deploy assessment missions in eastern Libya as well as rebel-controlled enclaves in the west such as Misrata, which is under siege by regime forces.
Pamela Dix, whose brother Peter Dix died in the Lockerbie bomb aged 32, said she was incensed by the move. She said it seemed the decision showed a British government once more placing political pragmatism ahead of justice for the Lockerbie families and for other groups who claim to be victims of Libyan state-sponsored terror.
"I feel now the politicians have decided they are not interested in getting a resolution to Lockerbie. They have entered the same diplomatic game that David Cameron vocally criticised the previous government for playing. I am extremely frustrated. It seems never to be the right time to ask any Libyan about what happened at Lockerbie. The thought of William Hague sitting down with this man at the summit is deeply unpleasant."
Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, said Britons would be "very concerned that our country is being used as a transit lounge for alleged war criminals".
He added: "This sends the wrong signal to Gaddafi and those complicit in dictatorships everywhere. It should not be forgotten that Moussa Koussa was allegedly behind many IRA outrages, the Lockerbie bombing and the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher. He should be here in the UK or facing trial in the international courts for complicity in the Gaddafi regime."