Barely noticed, yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of the American bombing of Al-Shifa, which produced 90 per cent of Sudan's pharmaceuticals.
The plant had specialised in anti-malaria medicines and in treatments for tuberculosis, as well as in veterinary products. Sudan was very poor and heavily sanctioned, so it was unable to import replacements.
As a result, there were at least tens of thousands of deaths. There are also still people living with severe injuries resulting directly from the attack itself.
After the exposure of the falsehood of its absurd claim that the factory had been linked to Osama bin Laden and to weapons of mass destruction, a bogus pairing that was of course to recur, the Clinton Administration blocked an inquiry by the United Nations.
Madeleine Albright also killed a State Department report that would have called the attack's necessity gravely into question. No compensation has ever been paid.
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