Britain and France are locked in dispute at the United Nations over the status of sanctions against Libya.

To French consternation, London circulated a draft resolution at the security council yesterday calling for sanctions against Libya to be lifted because Colonel Gaddafi's government has accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

France believes that until it receives "equitable" compensation for the bombing of a French UTA flight in 1989 over Niger, which killed 170 people, sanctions should remain in place.