16/03/07 (B386-B) BBC / Selon un jugement fédéral (Virginie), le Soudan serait responsable de l’attentat qui avait été perpétré contre l’USS COLE en approche du Port d’Aden en 2000. (En anglais – info lectrice)
Sudan
‘liable for USS Cole bomb’
A US judge has ruled that Sudan is partly responsible for the suicide bombing
of the USS Cole warship that killed 17 US marines in 2000.
The victims’ families are suing the Sudanese government, accusing it of aiding
terrorism.
They say al-Qaeda, which was blamed for the attack, could not have carried
it out without Sudan’s support.
Sudan had tried to have the case dismissed, saying too much time had passed
since the 2000 bombing.
"The judge… found the evidence involving Sudan’s responsibility for
the bombing of the Cole to be sufficient and in point actually overwhelming,"
Andrew Hall, the leading lawyer for the victims’ families, told the AFP news
agency.
The families are seeking more than $100m in compensation through a Virginia
court.
Funds frozen
Although Sudan is
deemed liable to pay damages, the judge has yet to say how much they should
come to.
Mr Hall says it will be up to the lawyers to collect damages from Sudan’s
assets that have been frozen in the US.
Seventeen US sailors died and 39 more were injured in the attack
off Yemen.
The families say the Sudanese government gave al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama
Bin Laden, financial and technical support.
This, they say, allowed the group to establish training bases, run businesses
and even use Sudanese diplomatic passports to carry explosives.
The Sudanese government insists there is no link between it and al-Qaeda
– a view backed by one recent US government report.