Tuesday, December 8, 1998 Published at 22:27 GMT
World: Middle East
Libya set to discuss Lockerbie trial
270 people died in the bombing over Scotland a decade ago
Libya's top government institution, the General People's Congress, is sitting for its regular session in the coastal town of Sirte.
It is expected to make a further move towards the handing over of two Libyans charged with the Lockerbie airliner bombing.
A debate on the future of the Lockerbie suspects is likely to follow other business in the congress session which is expected to last more than a week.
The meeting comes after a weekend visit to Libya by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to try to arrange the handing over of the two suspects with Colonel Gaddafi.
"We have made positive progress. We are on our way to resolving the issue," Mr Annan said.
He said the Libyans "understand the realities" of the case but had their own mechanisms for consulting and deciding.
They have agreed to Libya's demand that the trial be held on neutral ground in the Netherlands and are keen to see the two men turned over before the 10th anniversary of the bombing on 21 December.
The BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Barnaby Mason, who is in Tripoli, says some observers think there will be a substantial move, perhaps a statement in favour of the handover.
Our correspondent says Libya desperately wants to be fully reintegrated into the international community and is convinced that the offer made by the UK and the US is the only way of getting humiliating UN sanctions lifted.
But he says agreeing to a deal still has risks for Colonel Gaddafi and Libyans remain suspicious, especially in the case of the United States, that there is some trick or hidden conspiracy behind the offer.
Britain has adopted a more conciliatory tone towards Libya than the United States, indicating that a handover would make the restoration of normal diplomatic relations possible.
By contrast, the United States has enforced its own sweeping economic sanctions against Libya, and in 1986 its aircraft came close to killing Colonel Gaddafi in a bombing raid to retaliate for a bomb attack blamed on Libya.
The correspondent says that even if agreement does emerge from the congress, the handover is unlikely to follow in time for the anniversary.