Sudan wants Carter to chair American team to inspect medicine factory

Sudanese sources confirmed today to ArabicNews.com that Sudanese Minister of Justice Ali Mohammed Othman sent a message to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in which he asked for Washington's approval of international arbitration, because the International Court of Justice does not consider any case before the approval of the two opposing parties.

In his message Othman said that Sudan honors international law and seeks to have peace, thereby it asks the US administration to approve its proposal to submit the dispute over al-Shifaa factory to the International Court of Justice.

Sudan announced that it intends to present its dispute with the U.S. to the International Court of Justice in the Hague and proposed that former US President Jimmy Carter assume the chairmanship of a US inspection team investigating the ruins of al-Shifaa medicine factory.

The sources said the Sudanese proposal focused on questioning the credibility of the American allegations that the factory produced chemical weapons materials and taking a decision concerning whether the US attack against the factory was an attack against the integrity of the Sudanese lands. There are also questions on whether the attack is allowable within the United Nations charter.

Meanwhile, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael said that Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir sent five messages to US President Bill Clinton on Sudan's readiness "for dialogue," but the US President did not reply.

In a pre-departure statement on Monday night before leaving Amman, Jordan, Ismael renewed Sudan's call for delegating a fact-finding commission to refute the US accusations concerning the pharmaceutical factory bombarded by Washington. Ismael added that his country is persistent in its call to delegate a fact-finding commission, even if it is from the US Congress or led by a neutral US figure like former president Jimmy Carter or Rev. Jessie Jackson.