Cook recalls envoy amid Sudan tension

ROBIN COOK, the Foreign Secretary, yesterday said Britain was withdrawing its ambassador to Sudan and told other Britons in the country to leave, as tension continued over the American air strike on the capital, Khartoum.

The Sudanese asked on Monday for Alan Goulty to leave Khartoum, citing Tony Blair's forthright support for the United States strike on 20 August on the El Shifa factory, which Washington alleges was used to produce precursors for deadly VX nerve gas.

Mr Cook insisted yesterday Britain still stood firmly behind the US in the row over the airstrikes on Afghanistan and Sudan and said he was "surprised" by reports that the Khartoum factory may only have been producing medicines.

But the Foreign Secretary is at the centre of speculation that he had misgivings about the US missile strike on the Khartoum factory. The Cabinet is reported to be split, after the failure of Washington to provide more convincing evidence that the factory was producing chemical weapons. Sudan insists it was producing medicine and has asked the United Nations to investigate.

Whitehall sources made it clear Mr Cook felt uncomfortable with the unequivocal support given to President Bill Clinton by the Prime Minister after the bombing. "We haven't signed a blank cheque," one senior source said.

Mr Cook sought to play down reports of a rift with Number 10, but chose his words with care. "The Government line is one that is agreed by all of us ... and we are confident that our American allies would act with a clear basis for action and clear identification of the targets."

The Government could be embarrassed by Labour backbenchers seeking a statement on the bombing in the Commons next week before the emergency debate on anti-terrorism legislation. Tam Dalyell, Labour MP for Linlithgow, said: "Many scientists simply do not believe that this evidence that the Government claims to have [about the El Shifa plant], actually exists."

The Prime Minister came under attack last night for the Government's support over the US air strikes just days after the bombing of Omagh. Mr Blair warned people not to draw parallels between the two situations nor to be too quick to condemn the US: "There is a big difference between what the Americans did and what happened in Northern Ireland."