Kenyan bishop calls for ban on oil imports

The Archbishop of Mombasa diocese on Kenya’s east coast, John Njenga, has called on the Kenyan government to ban the importation of oil from Sudan, the independent ‘Daily Nation’ reported on Monday. Sudanese oil revenues were being used to finance the Khartoum government’s 18-year war against southern rebels and Kenyan companies who bought oil from Sudan would be “supporting the ongoing atrocities there,” it quoted Njenga as saying on Sunday. “Until peace is guaranteed and achieved in Sudan, let no country in the world use its friendly factor to exploit or buy the country’s natural resources,” he added.

Oil operations in Sudan have been criticised by religious and human rights groups, who say government forces have committed atrocities and forcibly displaced people in concession areas to make way for oil exploration. A consignment of 2,000 mt of zero-rated Sudanese oil which arrived at Mombasa port had sparked a row between the government and local oil dealers, who protested the import of cheap oil from Sudan, the ‘Daily Nation’ reported. The Kenyan government had agreed to allow the tax-free importation of Sudanese oil in August after fears were raised of a ‘trade war’ between the two countries.