Foreign relations of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi 2009, Canadian visa requests were being denied and Canadian travelers were told they were not welcome in Libya. Specifically, Harper's government was planning to publicly criticize Gaddafi for praising the convicted Lockerbie bomber. The sincerity of the good faith efforts of the Libyan government may be questionable since Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri, told a U.S. diplomat in 2009 that the Libyans were willing to host wounded Guinean junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara after a failed assassination attempt in 2009. Libya also still provided bounties for heads of refugees who criticized Gaddafi, including 1 million dollars for Ashur
Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway had traditionally been significant trade movement along the Lockerbie - Lochmaben - Dumfries road. In 1847 the Caledonian Railway (CR) opened its main line through Lockerbie. In 1848 a line between Carlisle and Dumfries was opened, and was extended to complete a Carlisle - Dumfries - Kilmarnock - Glasgow route in 1849; the company building that route became the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) in 1850. The arrival of the railway brought cheap coal to the communities served, and helped farmers by cheaply bringing fertiliser in and farm produce away. Lochmaben felt itself at a disadvantage to its neighbours,