US criticised over biological weapons alert

The London-based advocacy group European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council on Monday expressed deep concern at what it called "unsustainable and deeply irresponsible" allegations by the US government that Sudan is involved in developing a biological weapons programme. The United States was particularly worried about existing or planned "offensive biological weapons programmes" or non-compliance with obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention in six named states, including Sudan, the US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John R Bolton, told an international arms control meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on 19 November. "We are concerned about the growing interest of Sudan [a non-party to the Biological Weapons Convention] in developing a biological weapons programme," he stated. See http://www.state.gov/t ESPAC said in a statement on Monday that Bolton's claim was "unsubstantiated, deeply irresponsible and... very much in keeping with the previous Clinton Administration's failed attempts to isolate Sudan from the international community by making similarly unsubstantiated claims." The Council, www.espac.org, describes itself as a privately-funded organisation which runs advocacy, education and media projects designed to work towards a better understanding of the complexities of the Sudanese situation, and to encourage peace and reconciliation in the country. It also challenges what it considers "inaccurate and questionable coverage of Sudan and Sudanese affairs," and has openly criticised leading international media - including the BBC and respected American and British newspapers - for what it has variously described as innacurate, irresponsible or prejudiced reporting. Bolton's comment on behalf of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency was putting US political policy and expediency before science with regard to Sudan, just as it had in making "inaccurate and misleading claims" which led to the 1998 US attack on the al-Shifa medical factory in Khartoum in 1998 in connection with its alleged manufacture of chemical weapons, according to ESPAC. Bolton's unsubstantiated claims were not just unreliable little more than propaganda dressed up as "intelligence", it said in Monday's statement. "For its own credibility on this serious issue, the Bush administration cannot allow its reputation with regard to arms control and non-proliferation to be sullied for the sake of cheap propaganda attacks on Sudan," it added. At the 19 November meeting, Bolton argued for a stronger international regime for biological weapons control, saying that Sudan, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Syria and Libya were among those states which had not been dissuaded from an interest in biological weapons by the existing Biological Weapons Convention. Prior to 11 September, Bolton said, he would have avoided the approach of naming states in public, but the world had changed since then and so must the "business-as-usual approach" to arms control given "the potential use of biological weapons by terrorist groups, and states that support them." The US envoy said legislators needed to look beyond traditional arms control measures to deal with the complex and dangerous threats posed by biological weapons. He proposed stricter measures to assure compliance of prohibitions on the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling or retention of biological weapons, and their delivery systems. Countering those threats would require a full range of measures: tightened export controls, an intensified non-proliferation dialogue, increased domestic preparedness and controls, enhanced biodefense and counter-bioterrorism capabilities, he said. The measures proposed by the US on 19 November, would, if adopted, contribute significantly to control access to dangerous pathogens [disease-causing agents], deter their misuse, punish those who misuse them, and alert states to their risks, according to Bolton.