 Sudan has renewed its call for the U.N. Security Council to investigate U.S. allegations that led to the bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum one year ago.
The United States bombed the factory on August 20, 1998, claiming the plant produced chemical weapons. It also claimed the plant was linked to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998.
In a recent letter to the Security Council, Sudan's foreign minister said the U.S. allegations were based on "faulty intelligence" and that the factory was an "important source" for human and veterinary medicines.
Sudan has accused the United States of avoiding discussion on the issue, despite promises to work toward a bilateral resolution.
Washington lawyers representing the factory's owner, millionaire businessman Salah Idris, say he may file a lawsuit seeking compensation for the bombing from the United States. Idris is a Sudanese national who also holds a Saudi passport.
His lawyers say that research done by the U.S.-based investigation firm Kroll Associates shows that Idris and his company, El-Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries, had no relationship with bin Laden or his alleged network of terrorists and that the plant produced only medicines.
U.S. officials declined to discuss the controversy over the bombing publicly, although a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council insisted: "If the decision were to be made again today ... it would be the same decision." |
