US drops sanctions against Koussa

The Obama administration dropped financial sanctions late Monday against the top Libyan official who fled to Britain last week,saying it hoped the move would encourage other senior aides to abandon Col Muammar Gaddafi,the countrys embattled leader.

The decision to unfreeze bank accounts and permit business dealings with the official,Moussa Koussa,underscored the predicament his defection poses for US and British authorities,who said Tuesday that Scottish police planned to interview Koussa about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and other issues in the next few days.

In a BBC interview in Tripoli broadcast on Tuesday,one of Gaddafis son,Seif al-Islam Gaddafi,charged that the British government had coerced Koussa into speaking against the Gaddafi government. The British government said this: you have no immunity unless you cooperate, Gaddafi said. He is sick,he is sick and old so if you put it this way no immunity of course I will come out with the funny stories.