[France threatened to] veto the [Security Council] resolution [lifting sanctions against Libya] because it still has not finalized an agreement with Libya to increase compensation for victims of the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Niger, council diplomats said.
The United States and Britain have pressed for a vote since Aug. 15, when Libya agreed to a $2.7 billion compensation deal for the families of the Lockerbie victims and acknowledged responsibility for the attack. The deal will give each victim's family $5 million to $10 million, a settlement that embarrassed France. The French government settled with Libya in 1999 for just $33 million to be shared by families of the 170 people killed in the bombing of a UTA flight over Niger in 1989 -- giving relatives of each victim about $194,000.
When French families learned of the Lockerbie settlement, they demanded more money.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 4:37 PM