The Deputy will be aware from my answer to his question of 6 October that the missile attacks on 20 August on a chemical plant near Khartoum and on a target in Afghanistan, were a response to the attacks on the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which resulted in the deaths of 263 people. At the time, the US indicated that it had acted upon credible and compelling evidence identifying those who had perpetrated the Embassy bombings and that those individuals were planning further attacks.
Since the missile attack on Sudan, there has been questioning of the basis for that decision, including the evidence available to the US that the targeted plant was engaged in producing chemical weapons. Following a request by Sudan to the Security Council and the involvement of a number of other states in the region, informal consultations have taken place in New York on the possible tabling of a draft resolution requesting the UN Secretary General to dispatch a fact finding mission to Sudan to study whether the Al Shifa factory was involved in the production of chemical weapons ingredients and whether any links exist between the factory and the Usama Bin Laden terrorist network. I am not aware of conclusive developments in these consultations. No draft resolution has yet been formally tabled.
With our EU partners, Ireland views the fight against terrorism as one of the priority aims of our common foreign policy. To be effective, that fight requires maximum international co-operation and confidence between governments to ensure that those responsible for terrorist acts are brought to justice. We have noted that the US stated to the UN Security Council that additional information would be provided on the background to the attacks, and we have welcomed the fact that informal consultations involving members of the UN Security Council, with Sudan and other governments, regarding the basis for the missile attack have taken place. It is important that this issue be resolved between the United States and Sudan in accordance with the principles to the UN Charter and of international justice and in a manner which will contribute to the fight against international terrorism.
The Deputy in his question refers also to attacks on Iraq in 1992 and 1996, and he refers to "repeated acts of aggression by the United States Government", and "state terrorism". I do not accept the sweeping generalisatiosn used by the Deputy. I would point out to the Deputy that, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council has a responsibility to determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression.
