Oil giants and humanitarian organisations clash in wartorn Sudan

["Yunan" <yunan@tiscalinet.it>]

Oil giants and humanitarian organisations clash in wartorn Sudan

by Michel Sailhan

CAIRO, May 29 (AFP) -- Multinational corporations attracted by Sudan's oil
reserves are finding themselves up against humanitarian organizations who
accuse
the government of massive rights violations in its war with rebels in the
south of the
country.

Fifty humanitarian organisations and emergency relief groups launched Monday
a
campaign to freeze the activities of oil companies in the Sudan, one of the
world's
50 least developed countries, because of the brutal civil war.

The organisations demanded that all oil companies "abstain from activity
until a peace
agreement is signed in the Sudan, and denounce all human rights violations,
such as
the bombing and forced displacements of civilians."

"Oil revenues feed a war, which has already claimed two million dead," the
groups
said in their appeal to oil companies anxious to cash in on Sudan's
newly-discovered
underground wealth.

The humanitarian groups also urged European Union countries to see that
their
companies do not invest in Sudan until peace is restored.

The Canadian-owned Talisman and the China National Petroleum Corporation
started
oil exploration there in 1999. Malaysia's Petronas, Qatar's Gulf Oil, the
United Arab
Emirates' Thani, Austria's OMV, Britain's British Petroleum and Sweden's
Lundin
have since invested in Sudan's oil industry.

France's TotalFinaElf also possesses a block for exploration, but it remains
in
development limbo due to the war.

More companies from Britain, India, Italy, New Zealand and Pakistan are
rumoured
to be mulling investment in the turbulent zones.

Human rights group Amnesty International charged last year, "The government
of
Sudan and its militia allies have, for their part, been ruthlessly engaged
in what
appears to be a systematic operation to clear civilians from the areas
around the
oilfields.

"This has meant forcibly displacing tens of thousands of people from their
homes in
western Upper Nile state. Whole villages have been burned to the ground and
livelihoods destroyed. In the process, hundreds of civilians have been
extrajudicially
executed.

"Thousands more remain unaccounted for and, if still alive, may be facing
starvation
in view of the government ban on all humanitarian relief flights to the
area."

Sudan announced last week it was calling off the bombing of rebel areas in
the south
and in central Sudan's Nuba mountains, which are located in the Southern
Kordofan
state where many of Sudan's oilfields lie.

Sudan's oil production has passed 205,000 barrels per day (bpd), of which
145,000 is
exported, mostly by a 1,600 kilometer (1,000 mile) pipeline to the Red Sea.

Washington's Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimates Sudan
will
boost its production to 400,000 bpd in the next two years.

While a modest amount, compared to the world's giant oil producers, the
rebel Sudan
People's Liberation Army (SPLA) charges the government with using the money
to
continue fighting the south, although the government refutes the charge.

US lawmakers on March 28, accusing oil companies of indirectly supporting
the war
in Sudan, said the oil firms operating there should be banned from borrowing
money
on US capital markets.

The British-based charity Christian Aid also called in March on oil
companies to
suspend operations in Sudan because of atrocities it blamed on the Sudanese
government and "sponsored militias".