BERLIN - A German newspaper has reported that Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi admitted involvement in two of the worst terrorist outrages of the 1980s: the bombing of the Pan Am airliner that crashed on Lockerbie and the assault on a Berlin discotheque.
Quoting a leaked German government memo, Allgemeine Zeitungsaid the Libyan leader's admission came during a secret meeting with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's chief foreign policy adviser, who related it to Germany's allies in Washington.
A confidential account of that briefing had been leaked to the German newspaper.
The alleged admission is seen as important for attempts to reintegrate Libya into the international community and have UN sanctions lifted.
Acceptance of responsibility for acts of terrorism is the key stipulation demanded by the UN for the lifting of the sanctions imposed after the Lockerbie bombing.
Sanctions were suspended after Tripoli agreed to hand over two suspects for the Lockerbie bombing. But Britain and America say the sanctions will not be officially lifted and could be reimposed unless the Libyan regime accepts the terrorist responsibility condition.
So far authorities in the West have had difficulty linking Colonel Gaddafi to the bombings. It has proved even more difficult to convict those suspected of the bombing of Berlin's La Belle discotheque in 1986, in which three people were killed.
But Michael Steiner, the German official in whom the Libyan leader allegedly confided, faced a summons to give evidence after the revelation was made yesterday at the La Belle trial in Berlin.
According to Allgemeine Zeitung, which published the leaked memo, Mr Steiner visited Colonel Gaddafi in February.
When Mr Schröder visited Washington a month later, Mr Steiner was there during a meeting with President Bush.
Also present was the German ambassador, Jürgen Chrobog, who cabled an account to his bosses in Berlin.
It is this memo that appears to have found its way to the newspaper and to La Belle victims' lawyers.
