Libya Takes Charge of UN Council 
By The Associated Press
January 3, 2008
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-UN-Libya-Takes-Charge.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org \o More articles about the United Nations. UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A Libyan took over as president of the http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/security_council/index.html?inline=nyt-org \o More articles about Security Council, U.N. U.N. Security Council Thursday, capping the nation's climb back to respectability. But its ambassador said Libya's past ordeal under U.N. sanctions puts it ''in a very difficult position when we speak about imposing sanctions against another country.''
The rapid ascent of Libyan Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi to this month's revolving council presidency, occurring during the first month that Libya has ever been allowed onto the council, is a remarkable turnabout for the north African nation long seen as a sponsor of terrorism.
Ettalhi said that Libya's past as an international outcast would make it reluctant to impose U.N. sanctions on another country.
''I might say that as a country that had suffered from sanctions, we will be in a very difficult position when we speak about imposing sanctions against another country,'' Ettalhi said.
The council, which oversees global peace and security, is the only U.N. body whose decisions are all binding. Only the United States, China, France, Russia and Britain have veto power; the 10 other member countries, including Libya this year, are elected to two-year terms.
Among its tools are economic sanctions, arms embargoes, financial sanctions, travel bans and military actions.
The council presidency rotates monthly among members, based on alphabetical order in English. The job requires setting the monthly agenda and running council meetings, but it does not give an ambassador automatic entry into talks exclusive to the most powerful members.
Also Thursday, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam met with U.S. Secretary of State http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/condoleezza_rice/index.html?inline=nyt-per \o More articles about Condoleezza Rice. Condoleezza Rice in the highest-level contact between the two countries in Washington in 35 years.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/ronald_wilson_reagan/index.html?inline=nyt-per \o More articles about Ronald Wilson Reagan. President Reagan, who sent U.S. bombers to Libya in 1986 after its attack on a German disco, once described Libyan leader http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/q/muammar_el_qaddafi/index.html?inline=nyt-per \o More articles about Muammar el-Qaddafi. Moammar Gadhafi as an ''enemy'' and sponsor of terrorism from Europe to Africa to the Middle East. Gadhafi came to power in a military coup in 1969.
The United States put Libya on a list of state sponsors of terrorism and imposed sanctions that barred American companies from doing business there.
Oil-rich Libya also was ostracized by years of U.N. sanctions for sponsoring terrorism, but started moving back into the international fold with its 2003 decision to dismantle its nuclear arms program.
Gadhafi's attempts to normalize U.S.-Libya relations included pledges to renounce terrorism, abandon weapons of mass destruction and compensate victims' families for attacks such as the 1988 bombing of Pam Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The Security Council voted in 2003 to lift decades-old sanctions against Libya that had included a ban on military sales and some oil equipment after the 1988 bombing. The sanctions already were suspended in 1999, after Libya agreed to hand over two suspects for trial.
The United States resumed full diplomatic relations with Libya last year for the first time in more than a quarter-century, and later removed Libya from the State Department's list of terrorism sponsors.
U.S. diplomatic officials say they still have human rights concerns and terrorism worries there. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/human_rights_watch/index.html?inline=nyt-org \o More articles about Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, reported that three political prisoners in Libya had disappeared in the past year and a half.
But the officials see progress.
''Libya has come a long way, in renouncing WMD and in a number of ways, helping with the peace process in both Chad and Sudan,'' said Jackie Wolcott, who represents U.S. interests before the Security Council. ''I think in the council we will work very well with them.''
Libya still has not paid the $2 million per victim it agreed upon as compensation for the Pan Am bombing. Families say they have received about 80 percent of what they were owed, and two Libyan intelligence agents were convicted.
Glenn Johnson, chairman of a group called Victims of http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/pan_am_flight_103/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier \o More articles about Pan Am Flight 103. Pan Am Flight 103, said Libya ''should not be fully recognized as coming into civilized nations'' until it pays up.
''It sends a poor message that the United States is willing to let countries not live up to their agreements, without any consequences,'' said Johnson, whose 21-year-old daughter died aboard the flight. ''I would have preferred that Libya not be allowed on the Security Council.''
(This version CORRECTS SUBS 8th graf, `Also Thursday ...' to correct that meeting was highest level in Washington)