Allegations of use of chemical weapons proved wrong

Allegations that the Sudan government used chemical weapons in southern Sudan last July have been dismissed after the British Ministry of Defence released results on tested samples. A letter from the Ministry of Defence to Baroness Cox - who made the allegations in a debate on Sudan in the British House of Lords on 13 October - said results carried out independently in Britain, America and Finland showed “no evidence to substantiate the allegations that chemical weapons were used in these incidents in the Sudan”. The letter, sent 5 June, said the British government would inform the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Sudanese Government. All allegations of use of chemical weapons were treated “very seriously” by the British Government, said the letter. Although initial analysis at Porton Down (referred to as CBD) showed no trace of arsenical “riot control agents” - described as chemicals that produce sensory irritation or short-lived disabling physical effects - more tests were carried out from field samples to screen for “chemical agents, their environmental degradation products, and riot-control agents”. 17 samples of water, soil and shrapnel were collected from three sites in the Sudan and tested for “known chemical agents” like classical nerve agents, mustard, and arsenic. The results showed low levels of arsenic , but “only at levels well below expected natural limits for environmental samples”. Conventional TNT explosive was also present in some of the samples “mainly those collected from near to the alleged bomb craters or from presumed bomb fragments”. (See copy of the letter posted http://www.sudan.net) The British-Sudanese Public Affairs Council released a copy of the letter from the Ministry of Defence, complaining that the allegations had been reported extensively by the international media when an NGO operating in the south, Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) issued a press release on 2 August 1999 headed “Confirmed Chemical Bombing in Southern Sudan”. Baroness Cox, President of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, repeated the allegations in the British House of Lords on 12 and 13 October, 1999, said the British-Sudanese Public Affairs Council statement. She claimed chemical weapons had been used “with impunity” in southern Sudan, specially Lainya and Kaya. The Sudan government categorically denied the use of chemical weapons, and immediately agreed to a United Nations investigation. An Operation Lifeline Sudan medical team travelled to the areas and took a number of samples, including blood and urine specimens, which were sent of analysis to the Centre of Disease Control (CDC) in US. These tests showed “no evidence of exposure to chemicals”, according to Note for the Spokesman of the Secretary-General on Sudan, 17 October, 1999, delivered by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Philippe Borel, to the Sudanese Foreign Ministry.