U.S. Department of State
96/01/31 USUN Press Release #013-(96)
U.S. Mission to the United Nations 
 
 
 
 
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY                   USUN PRESS RELEASE #013-(96) 
CHECK TEXT AGAINST DELIVERY                           JANUARY 31, 1996 
 
 
Statement by Ambassador Madeleine K. Albright, United States Permanent 
Representative to the United Nations, on the Situation on the Sudan, in 
the Security Council, in Explanation of Vote, January 31, 1996 
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Mr. President, the terrorist attack on President Hosni Mubarak on June 
25, 1995 was carried out by Egyptian nationals who had used Khartoum as 
a base of operations for more than two years while planning this act.  
It failed because of the professional response of Ethiopian and Egyptian 
security personnel, some of whom lost their lives.  If it had succeeded, 
it would have undermined the peace and stability of the North African 
and Middle East regions.  It must be condemned not only for this reason, 
but also in order to demonstrate the international community's 
condemnation of terrorism as a means to affect internal and bilateral 
conflicts. 
 
The attack on President Mubarak was one of the most outrageous recent 
acts of international terrorism.  But Ethiopia and Egypt are far from 
the only victims of this phenomenon.  Terrorism, much of it externally 
sponsored, is a recurring fact of life not just for the people of those 
two countries, but in places stretching from Eritrea to Israel to 
Pakistan and Sri Lanka.  In this city, New York, terrorists have 
executed attacks, and planned many more, against the United States and 
the United Nations, including the very building in which we are sitting. 
 
But not all facts of life have to be tolerated.  With the growth of 
worldwide information links in the government and financial sectors, the 
web of money, weapons and communications that sustain terrorists is ever 
more transparent.  With the stronger international consensus against 
dealing with terrorists, and the states that support them, the number of 
places where terrorists can find refuge is ever smaller.  Today's 
resolution repeats the constant message that must be delivered to 
terrorists and their sponsors: "You can run, but you cannot hide." 
 
The United States finds the evidence gathered by Ethiopia on the 
perpetrators of this crime to be compelling and convincing: we know who 
the terrorists were, we know from where they planned their crime, and we 
know to where they fled, or attempted to flee afterwards.  The 
government of the Sudan, which must bear responsibility for the acts it 
allows its guests to perform, also has the responsibility to extradite 
those guests to face justice.  Instead, it failed to give any serious 
response to the OAU mission that visited Khartoum in November and could 
not provide proof that it had made any effort to arrest the three 
individuals wanted.  It has made a transparently insincere offer to 
allow an OAU team to come join in the search, as if the OAU, or any 
other organization, had the capability to find three well-trained 
terrorists in a country of two and a half million square kilometers, 
when the security forces of that country do not want them to be found. 
 
Mr. President, contrary to what the government of Sudan has been 
claiming, this resolution is not the product of a conspiracy.  It stems 
from that government's failure to observe the most basic norms of 
international relations.  And the unanimous vote that adopted it is a 
measure not only of the balanced approach of those nonaligned members 
who drafted it, but of the international isolation in which the Sudanese 
government chooses to live.  I was struck by the Ethiopian Ambassador's 
description of the efforts of his government, since it was established, 
to build friendly bilateral relations with Khartoum.  The United States, 
too, shares with the Sudanese government the wish for good relations 
between our two countries.  But positive bilateral relations are not 
built upon declarations.  They are built on concrete actions.  
 
The Council's demands in this resolution are simple and straightforward: 
the government of Sudan must, first, immediately extradite the 
terrorists it is sheltering, and second, stop its assistance and support 
for terrorism.  We support this resolution because, like the OAU 
decisions on which it is based, its requirements are logical and 
justified.  Indeed, the obligation to extradite dangerous criminals -- 
and especially terrorists -- is among the minimum obligations of states 
that wish to live in peace with their neighbors.  We believe that it is 
within the power of the government of the Sudan to comply immediately 
and fully with these requirements.  We sincerely hope that the 
Secretary-General will be able to report to us within 60 days that Sudan 
has extradited the suspects, for the sake of the war on terrorism we all 
must commit to fight, for the sake of improving relations between Sudan 
and all of its neighbors, and for the peace and stability of the region.