FORMER US Attorney General Ramsey Clark announced Tuesday that his fact finding mission to the Sudan believed the decision to bomb the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant was purely political. "This was a pharmaceutical plant. There was no nerve gas. It would have been absolutely maniacal for them to put it there," Clark told reporters.
US cruise missiles bombed the factory on 20 August claiming the factory was used to manufacture nerve gas. "It is absolutely absurd to believe that they scooped up some dirt and found nerve gas on the outside of the plant," said Clark in response to the claims of US administration officials.
The former attorney general stressed that the factory had produced 90 per cent of Sudan's pharmaceutical needs and that "it is a crime under international law" to deprive a populace of medications required to meet its health needs.
Erekat stays
YASSER Arafat rejected the resignation of top Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat yesterday. According to Hassan Asfour, minister of state, "the president refused his resignation and stressed Erekat's efforts and role in the negotiating process. He will accompany the president on his trip to Belgium and the UN."
Erekat had submitted his resignation earlier this week because of differences with other officials over the handling of talks. Erekat was reported to be upset because Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Korie had been conducting parallel talks with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his top aides. (see p.4)
Closure eased
ISRAEL slightly eased its closure of the Palestinian territories on Wednesday. Some 17,000 Palestinian labourers and 5,000 merchants will be allowed into Israel to resume business following last Friday's closure. According to Israeli military sources, traffic of goods trucks between the Gaza strip and Israel has also been re-opened.
A full closure had been imposed and Israeli security forces put on high alert for fear of retaliatory attacks undertaken by Hamas after Israel killed two of the movement's alleged top militants.
Mere words
IRANIAN President Mohamed Khatami urged the United States to provide actions, not words, to ensure progress in resuming bilateral relations. Khatami, speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, suggested that lifting US sanctions would be a positive move, and added that he would, "like to see American economists and investors working in Iran."
But "in behaviour and attitudes there have been no real changes," Iran's president conceded, pointing towards US sanctions, frozen Iranian assets as well as US opposition to a pipeline that would carry oil and gas from central Asia to Europe via Iran. (see p.4)
Drop by 2015
A REPORT issued by the UN Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia (ESCWA) says population growth in the Arab world is beginning to slow though it will take two decades before the number of people living in the region stabilises and then starts to fall.
Although it will take years before the structure of population changes from high to stabilised growth, "by the year 2015 there will be a situation whereby population growth will reach a lower rate which can stabilise the population in the region and help improve the economies in the region," said ESCWA's executive secretary.
