Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir was not aware of the nature of this relationship and its repercussions. Ultimately, the interviews we would publish represented the personal viewpoints of the persons who met or worked with Bin Laden. Their knowledge of him was not necessarily close but was the outcome of working for his enterprises. The interviews shed some light on the unexplored life of Bin Laden in Sudan. On one side, it was a bitter experience for Bin Laden that cost him huge amounts of money but on the other side, it was a time when many of the subsequent ideas and acts were fermented.

It was in 1992 when Shaykh Osama Bin Laden failed to achieve reconciliation among Afghan Mujahidin, who engaged in fierce fighting at that time. Bin Laden decided to leave Afghanistan. Indeed, he left the capital Kabul and headed to Sudan unexpectedly.

Osama Bin Laden's relationship with Shaykh Hasan al-Turabi was old and strong. Al-Turabi was leader of the Islamic Front in Sudan that controlled the country following a military coup d'état, which was carried out by the Front's military wing in cooperation with the civilian wing in 1989.

It was reported that Bin Laden visited Sudan in 1984 when Al-Turabi was adviser to Former President Ja'far Numayri. Since then, he came to know all the leadership of the Islamic movement especially that this period witnessed the rise of many Islamic financial and economic institutions in Sudan that were run by numerous Arab businessmen, including Muhammad al-Faysal.

Financial circles in Sudan estimated the money that Bin Laden brought with him into Sudan at $350 million. Others said it was more than this.

A few days after his arrival in Khartoum, Dr. Al-Turabi held a lavish reception in his honor and paid tribute to Osama Bin Laden's efforts for the sake of Islam and Muslims. He described him as the great Islamic investor. During this reception, Al-Turabi announced that Bin Laden would be member and adviser of the National Sudanese Islamic Front. He also declared his support for Bin Laden's entire investment projects in Sudan.

The leadership of the Islamic Front in Sudan attended the big reception but President Al-Bashir did not. Since Al-Turabi was Sudan's de facto leader, Al-Bashir was unaware of Osama Bin Laden, his arrival in Sudan, or anything about this reception. Amidst the atmosphere of enthusiasm that prevailed in the reception, Osama Bin Laden announced a $5-million-donation as an initial fee for his new membership in the Islamic Front. Bin Laden then began to examine the economic and trade projects he could invest his money in.

The next day after this historic reception, Dr. Al-Turabi issued clear orders to all state officials to grant Osama Bin Laden all the privileges of total custom exemption for his imported vehicles and machines to build roads, bridges, and houses. Bin Laden began working with a Sudanese engineer called Al-Tahir.

In return for the valuable services and tremendous welcome Al-Turabi and his Islamic Front offered him, Bin Laden made a big contribution to support Afghanistan's Arab Mujahidin who sought asylum in Sudan. His first contribution was $2 million.

The mutual relationship between Al-Turabi's Government and Bin Laden yielded many projects. The most important one was the construction and pavement of the 700 Kilometer Al-Tahaddi Road linking Khartoum, Shindi, and Atbarah that was supposed to be financed by the Saudi Development Fund. Another project was the building and furnishing of 23 camps for Afghanistan's Arab Mujahidin or the so-called Afghan Arabs.

When Bin Laden became occupied with his projects in Sudan, he showed a noticeable interest in horse breeding. He found out that Isam al-Turabi--Dr. Hasan al-Turabi's son--had a similar interest and therefore, he entrusted him with buying a number of original Arabian horses. Mr. Isam al-Turabi will talk about his relationship with Osama Bin Laden and his interest in horses later on.

Upon direct orders from Dr. Al-Turabi, the Sudanese Government offered Osama Bin Laden one million feddans [one feddan is equivalent to 1.037 acres] in Western Sudan to set up agricultural projects, raise livestock, and establish pharmaceutical industries. Subsequently, Bin Laden became a moving bank that helped Al-Turabi's Government and its deteriorating economy, particularly after the United States and the United Nations declared that Sudan was one of the countries that supported and harbored international terrorism.

A Sudanese economist said that in 1993 the Sudanese Government asked Osama Bin Laden for an $80-million loan to import wheat urgently due to an acute shortage in this commodity. The stockpile of wheat was almost consumed and the Sudanese were standing in queues for long hours to get five loaves of bread each that would not be enough for one meal for a middle-size family. Bin Laden immediately responded and spared Al-Turabi and his government a critical problem.

Meanwhile, Osama Bin Laden was the first guest invited to attend the inauguration of the new Port Sudan Airport. He sat in the front row and was the guest of honor in this ceremony. It was a group of Bin Laden's companies that carried out the project of the new and modern airport that cost huge amounts of money. The airport was funded by the Saudi Government and was presented to Sudan by the Chairman of the Saudi Development Bank in cooperation with Umar Muhammad Bin Laden--Osama's half-brother--and Abu-Bakr al-Humayd, director of Bin Laden's group of companies in Dubai, Malaysia, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. During the airport inauguration ceremony, Bin Laden donated $2.5 million to establish and operate the airport, the second largest international airport in Sudan after the one in Khartoum.

A seasoned man said a Sudanese engineer, a graduate of Khartoum University, urged Osama Bin Laden to invest his money in Sudan. The engineer was a volunteer in the ranks of Arab Mujahidin in Afghanistan and was fighting there when Bin Laden met him at these camps.

Toward the end of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, Bin Laden and the Sudanese engineer Al-Tahir had a very close relationship. This developed in the wake of the assassination of Abdallah Azzam, (links to Azzam biography), a Palestinian Mujahid, a founder of the Arab Mujahidin group and its military unit in Afghanistan, and a Mujahidin leader in Peshawar. At that point, Osama Bin Laden owned many stocks in a number of Islamic banks and other companies under different names and with various partners.

One observer said Sudan profited a lot from Bin Laden in many vital areas, particularly that Bin Laden used to purchase the entire product of Sudanese cotton in cash and hard--foreign--currency and then export it to a number of countries that used to import from Sudan and other countries.

One observer said that every now and then Bin Laden would pay the bill of petrol imported by the Sudanese Government whenever it was short of hard currency. He also used to sign the bank credit for the petrol bill to foreign companies and guaranteed the payment of deals for helicopters and artillery machinery, including the deal Sudan signed with Iran, as one observer confirmed. Engineer Ibrahim al-Khadir--a Senegalese and a graduate of the Engineering Department at Cairo University--was among the engineers employed by Osama Bin Laden. He was the engineer who supervised the construction of several airports in Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states.

At that time, Sudanese-Egyptian relations witnessed their worst state due to Bin Laden's presence in Sudan and his relationship with the Egyptian jihad group. At one occasion, Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir stated that Osama Bin Laden's presence in Sudan manifested a great embarrassment to him, especially with sisterly Saudi Arabia, which earlier stripped Bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship.

Dr. Hasan al-Turabi--leader of the Islamic Front, a great Islamic intellectual, and godfather of the Salvation regime in Sudan--was the main advocate and proponent of Osama Bin Laden during his development enterprises in Sudan. He used to welcome him very often and reiterate that Osama Bin Laden was an ordinary man who was unjustly accused. Al-Turabi said Osama Bin Laden was an individual who was striving for the sake of Islam. He said this position caused him more than 50 accusations in the field of terrorism and fundamentalism and made it difficult to resort to constructive dialogue and unequivocal evidence to judge the man.

Egypt accused Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri group, an Egyptian--of plotting to assassinate Egyptian President Husni Mubarak during his 1996 Addis Ababa visit to attend the African summit conference.

Sudan was also accused of being involved in this attempt by backing the group that plotted the assassination attempt despite the fact that there was no concrete evidence of Sudan's involvement. The Sudanese President emphasized his country did not receive any terrorist and said Sudan was a country open to all people which made it difficult to track down a terrorist.

The United States, meanwhile, adopted a harsh policy vis-à-vis Sudan by threatening to impose economic sanctions. Therefore, Sudan was forced to expel Osama abroad. The United States actually imposed the sanctions and US planes hit Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory, which was a non-governmental factory owned by Saudi tycoon Salah Ahmad Idris of Sudanese origin, under the pretext that the factory manufactured chemical weapons.

The only project carried out in Sudan by Osama Bin Laden's Al-Hijrah Company was the 700-kilometer Al-Tahaddi Road linking Um Durman, Shindi, Atbarah, and Dangala after the Saudi Development Fund retreated from financing it.

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