Khartoum: medicine factory issue is precondition for dialogue with Washington

The Sudanese ambassador in Washington, Mahdi Ibrahim, has asserted the importance of dialogue to settle disputes between his country and the United States.

In press statements, the Sudanese ambassador said that the dispute lies in the starting point for the comprehensive dialogue on relations between the two countries. He indicated that Washington believes that the beginning would be with the approval of Sudan to reaccredit the American ambassador and to reopen the two countries' embassies.

The ambassador added that Sudan wants the dialogue to start by dealing with the issue of the US military strike against al-Shifaa medicinal factory in al-Khartoum in August 1998 as well as deciding the diplomatic situation of the US embassy in al-Khartoum and to announce whether it is in the downtown of the Sudanese capital or outside it.

Al-Mahdi added that last August's strikes against al-Shifaa medicinal factory by US missiles had constituted a crisis in the relations between al-Khartoum and Washington. He said the US administration found itself involved in an act which only brought the world's wide condemnation and raised doubts in the US citizens and several officials and many allies to the US about the claims alleged by the US administration.

The US strike of al-Shifaa medicinal factory on August 20,1998 led to tensions in the relations between the two countries and the closure of their embassies in al-Khartoum and Washington.

After the August 20 bombing of the Khartoum factory, Sudan called for dispatching a UN fact finding mission to uphold or disprove the US claims that the factory was producing poisonous items that can be used in manufacturing chemical weapons.