Analyst Roger Hardy: "The incident is deeply embarrassing for the Americans"

On the eve of the first anniversary of the attack, demonstrators gathered in the ruins of the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory to denounce the US.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese embassy in Cairo confirmed that Sudan has joined an international convention banning chemical weapons.

Demand for justice

Sudan's Information Minister Ghazi Salaheddin Atabani said his country wanted a UN investigation to disprove Washington's allegation that the Al Shifa plant was involved in making ingredients for chemical weapons.

"We believe the entire world is now convinced that the air raid was an unjustified act of aggression," Mr Atabani said.

Protests followed the US bombing of the Shifa factory

He called on the UN Security Council "to live up to its responsibilities and send a team...to investigate the destructive American attack," Egypt's Middle East news agency quoted him as saying.

The US has opposed such an inquiry, saying a sample retrieved from the plant's grounds contained a nerve gas component.

In May, the factory's owner, Salah Idris, won a key legal victory in his campaign to win an admission from the US that the bombing was a mistake.

In response to a lawsuit brought by Mr Idris's Washington lawyers, the US Treasury unfroze his US bank accounts.

Correspondents say the treasury's action implicitly acknowledges that there was not enough evidence to justify their action against him.

Although regional analyst Roger Hardy sauys an appology from the Americans is highly unlikely.

Anniversary rally

About 2,000 demonstrators were transported to the Al Shifa site for a government-sponsored rally to mark the anniversary of the strike.

"Down, Down USA," chanted the crowd, mainly consisting of boys and girls.

The US fired cruise missiles on the factory on 20 August of last year, in retaliation for the bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

US President Bill Clinton ordered the attack because Washington suspected the factory of being linked to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the man accused of masterminding the embassy bombings.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese embassy in Cairo announced that Sudan had signed the UN Chemical Weapons Convention on 24 May.

The agreement bans the development, production, storage and use of chemical weapons. More than 160 countries have signed the convention since it took effect from April 1997.