The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is reported to be seeking help from the South African President, Nelson Mandela, in persuading Libya to hand over the two men suspected of the Lockerbie airliner bombing.

Mr Blair, who starts a visit to South Africa on Wednesday, told a British Sunday Businessnewspaper that Mr Mandela had already played a unique and important role in trying to resolve the controversy and he'd ask him to intervene again.

Libya is demanding a number of guarantees before agreeing to allow the suspects to go on trial, under Scottish law in the Netherlands.

Two hundred and seventy people were killed when Pan Am flight 103 blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988.

Eleven people on the ground were also killed.