DATE=8/14/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=EGYPT / SUDAN (L ONLY) NUMBER=2-252797 BYLINE=LISA BRYANT DATELINE=CAIRO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A senior Sudanese official has denied reports that the Sudanese government dropped chemical weapons on rebel-held areas in southern Sudan. From Cairo, Lisa Bryant reports that Sudan's Ambassador to Egypt, Ahmed Abdel Halim Mohammed, believes the reports are part of a larger effort to undermine peace talks between the Sudanese government and opposition parties. TEXT: Ambassador Abdel Halim says he is optimistic that recent efforts by Egypt and Libya to bring the Sudanese government and opposition parties together for talks will succeed. In an interview with V-O-A (Saturday), the Ambassador said he believed such talks could take place by the end of the year. The ambassador says he is currently talking with members of the opposition in Cairo, including former Prime Minister Sadiq el-Mahdi, who leads the popular Umma Party. Sudan has been waging an on-and-off civil war for decades. The war originally pitted the Muslim north against the country's mostly Christian and animist south. But in recent years, opposition factions from other parts of Sudan have joined the effort to topple the government of Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir. The years of fighting have killed an estimated two- million people. Some members of the Sudanese opposition, many of whom are based in Cairo, have expressed doubts about recent peace initiatives. They say they do not trust the Sudanese government, and they say they see no reason to change this assessment. Ambassador Abdel Halim accuses the United States and some non-governmental organizations working in southern Sudan of trying to undermine peace efforts. He says efforts to disrupt peace talks included what he calls false reports that Sudan used chemical weapons in its war against opposition fighters. The United Nations recently said it would investigate charges that the government dropped chemical weapons during two bombing raids on southern Sudan in July. But Mr. Abdel Halim says Sudan does not possess chemical or biological weapons. He adds that his government would welcome a United Nations investigation into the matter. ///ABDEL HALIM ACT/// Take it from me -- and I'm saying this on behalf of the government -- the Sudan is ready to receive a commission appointed by the Security Council to investigate the accusation that it has used chemical weapons. But at the same time they have to investigate both this accusation and the Shifa bombing incident. I think this a very fair, I think this is a very, very fair request. Why investigate us at the whims of a great power, and some N-G-Os that are toeing their line, and they neither give proof of their claim or accept an international committee or commission to come and investigate. /// END ACT /// Last year, the U-S bombed the Shifa pharmaceutical plant outside the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, following attacks on two American embassies in East Africa. The United States said the plant was producing chemical weapons, a charge that Sudan has vigorously denied. The ambassador says Sudan is also skeptical about a U-S coordinator for Sudan, which has been proposed by the Clinton administration. He says the Sudanese government fears the United States is trying to force different countries mediating Sudanese peace talks to adopt an American agenda. (Signed) NEB/LB/ALW/WTW 14-Aug-1999 12:46 PM EDT (14-Aug-1999 1646 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
