In an apparent change of heart, the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gadaffi has said the two Libyans suspected of the Lockerbie bombing cannot go on trial as things stand.

In a speech broadcast on Libyan television, Colonel Gadaffi accused the United States and Britain of imposing preconditions.

He didn't specify his objections.

The Libyan leader has agreed in principle to a plan to put the suspects on trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law -- but opposes a proposal to make them serve their jail sentences in Scotland if they are convicted.

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan who's in north Africa this weekhas said he hopes to go to Libya to resolve the issue.

The BBC diplomatic correspondent says western officials are reserving judgment on whether the refusal is final.

The suspects are accused of organising the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland nearly ten years ago, killing two-hundred-and-seventy people.