Policy Or Ploy?

LIBYA'S TAME PARLIAMENT, THE 631-MEMBER GENeral People's Congress, concluded 11 days of reportedly heated debate with the announcement that it would not object to handing over two suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing to the U.N. or the Arab League for trial. The session was accompanied by a series of articles in the government press critical of the policy line of the country's leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

Since the Libyan press is at least as tightly controlled as the parliament, experts suggest Gaddafi himself might be orchestrating the change in policy. If he is, the suggested offer still falls short of demands from the U.S. and Britain. The two insist that the Libyan intelligence operatives be tried either in Britain, over whose territory the bomb went off, or in the U.S. Still, the offer might confuse the issue enough to weaken international solidarity when the next round of economic sanctions against Libya is scheduled to take effect, in August.