'Black ship' down
The storming by Greek commandos of a mystery ship carrying enough explosives to obliterate a city has sparked a diplomatic incident between Greece and Sudan, reports Iason Athanasiadis from Athens
The row that broke out between Athens and Khartoum following the storming by Greek commandos of a 'black ship' -- shipping parlance for a suspicious-acting vessel with an obscure background -- highlighted lingering differences in perceptions over what constitutes "terrorism". A huge cargo of explosives was discovered aboard the Sudan- bound ship, amidst an international terror alert.
"A ship with a black flag went to the Black Sea with a black company ... all these black things should be investigated," said Greek Merchant Marine Minister George Anomeritis.
The ship came to the attention of foreign intelligence agencies, including the CIA, as it criss-crossed the Mediterranean for nearly two months. Setting out from Albania on 27 April, it loaded its explosive cargo in Tunis and reached Istanbul by 22 May.
After meandering around Greek shores for a further three weeks -- during which time a special NATO anti-terrorism task force had raised an international alert and notified Greece and other nations -- the Comoros- flagged Baltic Sky was boarded by an anti- terrorist squad on the night of 22 June.
The team discovered 680 tonnes of explosives and 180,000 detonators on board the ship, making it a floating "nuclear bomb", in the words of Anomeritis. "No one would call legal a cargo that is going around the Mediterranean for a month," he told reporters.
"If one detonator had gone off," said explosives specialist Vasilis Kapralos, "it would have caused the whole load to explode, resulting in a 2.5 kilometre shock wave and the disappearance of a small city from the map."
After a string of embarrassing international episodes such as the …calan affair, Greek newspapers pounced on the successful commando operation with relief, opining that it was an example of Washington's trust in its Mediterranean ally. According to the mass- circulation Eleutherotypia, the Bush administration "has faith in the handling of the Greek authorities and is certain it will be given access to the findings".
But having initially dominated local and international media -- CNN led with the news for several hours -- the story disappeared from the radar shortly after. As the statements made by exultant government officials started to dry up and the Sudanese and Tunisian governments insisted there was no foul play involved, coverage of the story petered out.
With the investigation continuing and the ship's crew of five men from Ukraine and two from Azerbaijan in custody, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail accused Greece of "not researching the facts before they spread accusations against Sudan" and claimed the ship's cargo was intended for industrial purposes -- an assertion backed by Tunisian Interior Minister Hedi Mhenni.
Despite Greek authorities' assertions that the Sudanese company that had placed the order for the explosives and detonators does not exist, Ismail said that his ministry had approved the transaction and produced documents he said confirmed the firm's existence.
Furthermore, Tunisia's SOTEMU, the supplier of the cargo, announced that it sold the explosives for non-military use and explained the erratic course of the ship -- which does not feature on a roster of suspicious vessels issued by the US to its allies -- as a delaying tactic on the part of the owner, who was trying to negotiate a higher price. This version is corroborated by the ship's captain, who says he was instructed by the ship's Irish owner to make a detour to Greece without any prior warning.
"It has nothing to do with terrorism," said Essam Bakry Al-Khalifa, director of the Khartoum-based Mutakamila Company for Chemicals and Development, Ltd, insisting the explosives were for routine projects such as road construction, cement and oil production, and telecommunications.
New evidence suggests the case could be another example of anti-Arab bias. Al-Ahram Weekly sources have confirmed that it is highly unlikely that the cargo was intended for a terrorist attack as both the nitrate-based explosives and detonators seized are of a type used almost exclusively for fishing or construction work. This appears to give greater credence to the Sudanese and Tunisian claims that the load was intended for peaceful means.
"It's a fiasco," said a prominent Greek journalist of Egyptian origin. "It's turning out that the Tunisians and Sudanese are innocent and we built this up in order to gain favour with the US and prove we're capable of dealing with a terrorist threat ahead of the Olympics."
"The port authorities were laughing when they heard about the handling of the case because it was clear to them that the only thing the ship did wrong was not state its load 24 hours before entering Greek waters," continues the journalist. "Now, the government has shut up and is trying to cover up the case."
Over recent weeks, there have been growing concerns about terrorist attacks, following bombings in Saudi Arabia and in Morocco. Sudan was a base for Al-Qa'eda leader Osama Bin Laden in the early 1990s and has been accused by American government officials of sponsoring terrorism, although more recently it has taken steps to show that it does not.
