KHARTOUM, 22 August — Sudan’s ex-Minister of Information Dr. Mahdi Ibrahim says the United States’ unwillingness to understand the situation in the region would lead to more confrontation than consolidation.

In an interview, Dr. Ibrahim reveals the personal animosity by one person at State Department who apparently deliberately blocked all communication between the US and Sudanese presidents because of her ardent desire to see the Sudanese government overthrown.

Dr. Ibrahim also speaks on the repercussions of the recent $1 trillion lawsuit filed by the families of Sept. 11 victims. The US lawsuit has created a strong feeling against the Arabs and Muslims in the world that they are going to be targeted — no matter what they do, said Dr. Ibrahim. "It is not at all appreciated that one throws out these blanket accusations — at countries, banks and Islamic groups."

The lawsuit shows how little their knowledge is regarding who is responsible for the Sept. 11 bombings, he told Arab News during a taped interview here by the London-based Al-Moustakilla satellite TV. "It worsens the situation, as it perpetuates the hostilities rather than dissolves them."

"America is a great country, and they have a sense of fairness — but their knowledge of our part of the world is limited, and there are lobby groups in the US that work against a fair understanding of our country. The US should be engaged in a dialogue with us, rather than remain alienated from us."

Dr. Ibrahim was asked to clear up the rumors about Sudan and terrorism, and its involvement with Osama Bin Laden. He said: "We condemned all acts of terrorism in very strong terms immediately following Sept. 11," said Dr. Ibrahim. "During my term — as ambassador in Washington during the Clinton Administration — I tried to knock on every door and establish communication with each and every possible member of Congress, the media, strategic centers and universities, in order to launch the best possible relation with the US.

"In all fairness, we felt the US should have adopted the standard values of international intervention regarding the internal affairs of a country. I worked hard for that, but unfortunately, even though President Clinton received me very well during my accreditation presentation, I later found it was very difficult to get a message across to him."

Dr. Ibrahim said the US State Department’s African desk was closed and the upper echelon there blocked his messages [to the president]. "I have no doubt that the messages I carried to President Clinton from President Bashir were not allowed to reach him — contrary to all diplomatic protocol. In all, I carried three messages from our president; they were serious, openhearted, important news on terrorism, human rights, the war in the south, and the major issues that were of concern between our two countries.

"One letter from my president was an invitation for the major parties in the US to come and establish a link with their counterparts in the south and get all the information and facts they needed, and to help us establish peace and understanding. As ambassador, I was very disappointed to see there was no response from a president to a president."

Dr. Ibrahim said that during his tenure as ambassador, he was unable to meet Susan Rice. "Not when she was adviser to the president. All my efforts failed. And, when she was later moved to Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, she rebuffed my every attempt.

"I could not believe that the Assistant Secretary of State for Africa would not want to see the ambassador of Africa’s largest country. It was clear to me that the administration was already pursuing a course of confrontation. I thought that if we had been able to meet, we might have been able to change the course of confrontation to consolidation."

Dr. Ibrahim says that when the bombing of Al Shifa — the US bombed the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory in August 1998, following a terrorist attack on two US embassies in Africa — happened in 1998, "I felt Susan Rice got what she wanted — which was to bring the confrontation to an end by bombing Sudan."

Frustrated with being rejected at the State Department, he turned to the FBI. "I initiated contact with them, because I knew the accusation of terrorism was very serious, and I knew that for Sudan — either its government or people — terrorism is alien to us, it runs contrary to our beliefs, values and traditions.

"I felt this issue needed to be addressed immediately, as it was a real concern to the US, and knowing the Africa bureau was closed to us, I addressed the FBI. I brought them a letter from their counterparts in Sudan to start an investigation in Sudan."

Dr. Ibrahim said he felt the FBI was interested in working with them.

"In all fairness, I felt they were ready to come and check things out themselves. But, after a few weeks passed, I received a message from the FBI saying that they were, unfortunately, unable to accept the invitation, but that they would — hopefully — be able to follow through on it at a later date.

"I knew then that the State Department was adamantly against their visit. Since then, many of them told me they were very discouraged by this decision, and they said Sudan is very different in reality than what the State Department told them.

"The end result was that the State Department and the FBI were never able to act constructively on any intelligence, presidential or ambassadorial level."

When Osama Bin Laden came to Sudan in the 1990s, Dr. Ibrahim said they knew nothing more about him than that he was from a wealthy family and a big businessman in the Middle East.

"Osama came to Sudan at a time when Sudan was open — anyone with a passport from the Middle East could come to Sudan without a visa. And when he came here, he was very interested in development projects, he built an important road and an airport at Port Sudan. If Osama was doing anything aside from that, and I tell you this in all sincerity, it was not known to us at that time."

Dr. Ibrahim said Sudan "received complaints and grievances from our brothers across the Red Sea and from the US, but without specifics. And, in 1993, Sudan was put on the US State Department list of terrorism."

Former President Jimmy Carter got involved, Dr. Ibrahim said, and asked the White House why Sudan had been put on the terrorism list. "But they told him they had no specific accusations. "So, we are used to blanket accusations without any specific details." When the pressure from the US increased, Dr. Ibrahim said a decision was taken here for him (Osama) to leave the country, which he did, in 1996. "Some of us feel that had he stayed, he would have continued to work on development projects rather than pursue terrorism." Dr. Ibrahim added it would have been beneficial if Sudan had been briefed on the accusations against him.

"The Jackal [‘Carlos’] too came to Sudan and he came with a diplomatic passport. We didn’t know anything about him." Dr. Ibrahim pointed out the cooperation Sudan was able to give, when brought into the loop.

"Look at the difference: The American Administration did not help us, but when the French approached us with full information and asked for our assistance, we gave it to them, because we are against terrorism. We worked with the French until we apprehended him.

"We received many threats against our overseas embassies because of this. But our president said he [Carlos] took advantage of our hospitality. But, instead of being commended for the work we did with the French, the Americans shrugged it off, saying he was old, and no longer useful. They said what we did was ‘no big deal.’

""So, because of these examples, we felt that — due to the behavior of the US government — their only interest at that time was to see our government overthrown," he said.

(This interview was one of Dr. Mahdi Ibrahim’s last ones as information minister, following the recent Cabinet reshuffle.)