Sudan bans US flights, demands African summit discuss attack

Sudan announced that it is seeking to convene a special summit of the Organization of African Unity to take a position concerning the US attack on a medicine factory outside Khartoum.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael said that Sudan will raise the case before the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement countries in South Africa this week.

He added, "We want that the other members in the Organization of African unity and the Non-Aligned Movement to realize that this attack does not only affect Sudan, but it could reach other countries."

The OAU's position is not yet clear concerning the Sudanese request.

A statement issued by the OAU supported the Sudanese call for the UN to send a fact-finding committee to Sudan concerning El-Shefa medicine factory which was destroyed by American shelling.

Meanwhile Sudan banned yesterday U.S. airplanes from flying over Sudanese airspace. Ali Othman Taha, the Sudanese first vice-president, said that this decision is in protest against the U.S. shelling of a Khartoum factory.

Sudan also renewed its call for sending a fact-finding committee to El-Shefa factory to disprove the American allegation that the factory produces chemicals used in the production of chemical weapons.