Sudan looks back in ire at Clinton years

By Alistair Lyon

KHARTOUM (Reuters): For many Sudanese, the ruins of a Khartoum medicine factory flattened by U.S. cruise missiles provide an image that sums up President Bill Clinton's legacy to their country.

While Sudan's Islamist government has sought to shake off its "rogue state" status by mending fences with several former regional foes and the European Union, relations with the United States remain mired in conflict and misunderstanding.

"The Americans make accusations, we deny them. We are not talking the same language," said Sadiq Bakhit Abdullah, a former press adviser to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

"What Clinton has meant for Sudan and its government is confrontation and the Shifa bombing was the climax of that confrontation," he told Reuters.

The destruction of the showcase Shifa pharmaceutical plant on Aug. 20, 1998 followed the bombings earlier that month of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that Washington blamed on Saudi- born Muslim militant Osama bin Laden, who was once based in Sudan.

The United States said the factory was making poison gas ingredients and had links with bin Laden. Washington rejected Khartoum's demand for an international investigation and provided little evidence in public for either of its charges.

"Hey Clinton, go to hell, no war to Sudan for Monica," read a protest banner raised at the devastated Shifa site the day after the attack, in a mocking reference to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Three days before the raid, Clinton admitted to a U.S. grand jury that he had had what he described as an "improper relationship" with the former White House intern.

Years of tension preceded the bombing as the United States sought to punish Sudan for embracing the radical Islamist ideology of Hassan al-Turabi, the guiding force behind the government installed after Bashir's 1989 military coup.

Turabi, then Parliament Speaker and secretary-general of the ruling National Congress party, opened Sudan's doors to Muslim militants from other countries, including bin Laden, forged close relations with Iran and pursued the war against rebels resentful of northern rule and Khartoum's efforts to impose Islamic law on the black African, non-Muslim south.

In 1993, the U.S. State Department listed Sudan among states sponsoring international terrorism, a move proposed by the previous Republican administration of president George Bush.

Egypt and Ethiopia accused Sudan of sheltering Muslim militants who tried to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at an African summit in Addis Ababa in 1995.

In April 1996, Clinton signed the Anti-Terrorism Act, which barred Americans from financial dealings with countries on the State Department's terrorism list. The United Nations imposed diplomatic sanctions on Sudan for its failure to hand over to Egypt suspects in the attempt on Mubarak's life.

Clinton added a trade ban in 1997, but exempted Sudan's exports of gum arabic, used by the U.S. soft drinks industry.

The U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called openly for a change of government in Khartoum and tried without much success to rally Sudan's fractious neighbors against it.

Sudan was able to improve its relations with much of the outside world after Bashir moved against Turabi in December 1999, but Washington remained unconvinced.

In the latest sign of animosity, Sudan expelled a U.S. diplomat last month for meeting opposition politicians in Khartoum. The government was already annoyed by a visit to the rebel-held south by a U.S. official and a U.S. campaign to block Sudan's bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Bashir, in a speech after winning a second presidential term in an election boycotted by serious opposition parties, called last week for better ties with the United States.

"We have no interest in seeing relations with the U.S. tense, but the Clinton administration persisted in its hostility and has committed many mistakes against us," he said.

"However, we will not blame the new administration for the sins of the old one. We are receiving Bush with an open heart, and will exert all efforts to improve relations and convince the new administration that the conceptions of its predecessor regarding Sudan were not right," the president declared.

Sudanese analysts say they are unsure if the incoming Republican administration under President-elect George W. Bush will prove any readier than its predecessor to turn the page.

"We don't know how much the Americans are willing to reshape their policies towards Sudan," said Sayed al-Khateeb, head of the Center for Strategic Studies in Khartoum.

"The United States has legitimate concerns, but they also exert political pressure to try to change regimes they dislike," he said. "People here are willing to discuss their genuine concerns, especially now Turabi's influence is gone."

Sudan's government feels aggrieved that its past actions aimed at meeting U.S. demands have gone unrewarded.

Apart from quietly expelling bin Laden and toning down its pan-Islamic rhetoric, Sudan has restored visa requirements to keep out Muslim militants known as Arab Afghans for their part in the 1980s war against Soviet troops in Afghanistan.

"We have satisfied everything the Americans were asking for and they are still not happy," Abdullah declared.

But some opponents of the government believe that Washington is right to distrust the Islamist rulers of Khartoum.

"The Americans are really aware of the situation in Sudan and I think they are right," said Sidahmed Hussein, a senior leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. "This regime cannot be improved, it must be removed."