'Floating bomb' sparks a row
2003-06-24 14:25
Khartoum - Sudanese foreign minister Mustafa Ismail hit out at Greece on Tuesday for seizing a ship carrying explosives to his country.
Khartoum says the explosives were for civilian purposes.
Authorities in Athens fired back, saying the shipment was too large to be intended for civilian use.
On Sunday, Greek authorities said special forces seized the Baltic Sky and arrested its crew after finding it was carrying 680 tons of explosives, mainly TNT, and 8 000 detonators.
The crew was charged with possessing and transporting explosives to third parties for outlawed activities.
But, Ismail said the ship was carrying ammonium nitrate, a raw material that can be used in the manufacture of explosives.
He said it had been ordered by a registered Sudanese company from a Tunisian one, and that all documents concerning the shipment had been approved by his ministry.
Ismail said he had ordered the Greek ambassador in Khartoum to be summoned and for officials to show him all the documents and express Sudan's dipleasure at Greece's haste in ordering the ship seized before verifying the facts.
655 tons of ammonium nitrate
Meanwhile, the official Al-Anbaa daily quoted Isam Bakry al-Khalifa, executive manager of Integrated Chemicals and Development Company, as saying his firm had chartered the ship from the Comoros Islands.
He said the ship was loaded with 655 tons of ammonium nitrate for use by cement factories, road-building companies and the mining and oil industries.
Khalifa dismissed as untrue a Greek statement that the destination of the shipment was unknown, saying every box on the ship carried a tag showing the name, address and telephone numbers of the company in Khartoum.
In Tunis, the Societe Tunisienne d'Explosifs et Munitions (Sotemu) confirmed it had a contract with Integrated Chemicals and Development.
Sotemu said that after Sudanese authorities issued an import license, the Baltic Sky was loaded on May 12 and 13 in the Tunisian port of Gabes and left for Port Sudan on May 13.
Ship's owner 'wanted extra money'
But it said the vessel, flying the flag of the Comoros Islands and chartered from a Cypriot company, Aegeas Navigation, went instead to the Black Sea, which it left on June 2.
Sotemu also said it alerted Tunisian authorities on June 6 after the ship's Istanbul-based owner had threatened to confiscate the cargo and re-sell it if the company did not pay an additional sum.
Greek Merchant Marine minister Georges Anomeritis said ship documents showed the cargo was destined for Integrated Chemicals and Development, but that the only address listed for the company was a post office box in Khartoum. He added that an investigation so far showed that no such company existed.
Sotemu said the cargo comprised "industrial explosives frequently used in mines and quarries, as well as in oil exploitations".
But Anomeritis maintained on Tuesday that the cargo was too massive to be intended for civilian purposes by a private company.
"We are investigating who is behind the designated recipient and even if it turns out to be an ordinary company. This is such a huge load, what would they do with it?" Anomeritis told Flash news radio.