Sudan reiterates call for UN Security Council to investigate al-Shifaa factory

Sudan has reiterated its call to delegate a team to make investigations at al-Shifaa factory, which was destroyed by US missiles last August under the pretext that it produced chemical weapons.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael opposed in a message he sent to the chairman of the UN Security Council which was circulated on Wednesday a statement released by the US State Department's acting secretary, Thomas Pickering, who dismissed the Sudanese request, which was first proposed last August, under the pretext that "rainfall washes the soil."

In his message and in remarks to Pickering's statement, the Sudanese minister said he refused the justifications given by the US and called upon the UN Security Council to carry out its responsibilities in ensuring world peace and security and to delegate an investigation committee to Sudan as stated in a proposal submitted by the Arab Group's 22 member states at the UN.

The US claimed that it found traces of chemicals used in making VX nerve gas in the soil of the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory, an allegation categorically denied by Sudan.