Chomsky List Members:

Who do we believe and why?

F. Leon

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Sudan shows off ruined factory to "disprove" US claims it was dangerous


KHARTOUM, Aug 23 (AFP) - Factory officials took the UN representative in
Sudan on Sunday to the pharmaceutical plant destroyed by last week's US
raid, seeking to disprove American claims it made chemicals which could be
used in nerve gas.

"The Al-Shifa factory produced no chemical products," Mohammed Shibli,
director of exports for the ruined plant, told UN representative Philippe
Borel.

To make his point, Shibli reached into the debris to gather up a handful
of pills, crushed them in his palm and held them to his mouth.

"Look, I can sniff these medicines, I can taste them, and I am a family
man who can't afford to die," he told reporters.

"Where are the chemical (weapons) products? Where's the nerve gas? Bring me
proof," Shibli demanded.

When asked if there were any secret parts to the factory site, or if it
produced any harmless components which could turn into chemical weapons
when mixed, the factory official answered with a string of denials.

If the factory holds any secrets, they now lie hidden under its still
smoldering ruins. Gone too, are the fragments of the US missiles which
destroyed it, removed by Sudanese security services.

Borel, asked for his reaction, answered only that "the factory is
destroyed."

He added: "I hope this incident will not distract us from the terrible war
which continues in the south of the country" where UN and humanitarian
agencies are battling widespread famine.

The UN Security Council is due to meet behind closed doors Monday to
discuss a Sudanese protest against the US missile strike.

Sudan wrote to the council on Friday demanding an urgent meeting and
calling for a fact-finding mission to verify US claims that Al-Shifa
produced a precursor to VX nerve gas.

Washington has also charged the factory was connected to international
terrorist Osama bin Laden, suspected of masterminding the August 7
bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Sayed Hamed, managing director of Al-Shifa, said Saturday the plant
employed some 360 people and suffered an estimated 100 million dollars
worth of damage. One employee of the pharmaceutical company was killed and
seven others injured in the raid Thursday, according to the company's legal
advisor, Ghazi Suleiman.

Company officials say that Al-Shifa was one of Africa's largest factories,
producing 30 kinds of human drugs and 23 veterinary medicines and
exporting products to a number of African and Arab nations.

The United Nations on Friday confirmed that the factory had a contract to
deliver humanitarian supplies to Iraq under the oil-for-food program.

UN spokesman John Mills told AFP that a contract for 200,000 dollars worth
of veterinarian pharmaceuticals had been approved by the UN sanctions
committee in January.

However the suplies had not yet been delivered to Iraq, he said.

Shibli, showing the ruins of the factory, said Al-Shiba was almost ready
to send its first medicines to Iraq when it was hit.

"We were just preparing to do it," he said.

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