Oil companies linked with counterinsurgency

International oil companies in Sudan are "knowingly or unknowingly" involved in a government counterinsurgency strategy in the country, according to the report of an independent fact-finding mission released this week. The investigation, commissioned by a number of British and Canadian NGOs, said the Canadian oil company Talisman had failed engage in constructive engagement in Sudan and had proved unable to exert a positive influence on the Sudanese government. Talisman has committed itself to a set of ethical operating principles in Sudan, including to a programme to monitor and investigate human rights concerns arising from its oil operations, promotion of human rights concerns with the government of Sudan, and to measures to ensure that oilfield infrastructure is not used for offensive military purposes. [for details, go to: http://www.talisman-energy.com/] Again, on Tuesday, the company defended its involvement in Sudan. In a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs in England, Talisman President Jim Buckee said his company's policy of "corporate social responsibility" in Sudan was better than leaving the country with sanctions, the Canadian Press agency (CP) reported. "Although there is a civil war, and oilfield revenues go to the government of Sudan, it is our view that walking away from Sudan is not a proper response," Buckee said in his speech. Buckee said Talisman's presence was having a positive effect by drawing international attention to Africa's largest country, and because the company was building infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and water wells. The report released on Tuesday of an investigation by Georgette Gagnon (an international human rights lawyer and member of the Canadian government investigation of Canadian linkages with oil-related human rights abuses in Sudan) and John Ryle (a London-based Africa specialist) found that the government of Sudan had intensified a terror campaign of armed attacks against civilians living in oil areas in 2000-01, a press release on the report's findings stated on Tuesday. The government has "used oil infrastructure to support military action, and has increased its military spending as its oil revenues have increased", it added. "Talisman and other oil companies are knowingly or unknowingly involved in a government counterinsurgency strategy that involves the forced displacement of local people from rural areas of the oil concession of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operation Company [GNPOC] consortium," according to the statement. Foreign commercial enterprises should only remain in Sudan if they supported a regime of independent human rights monitoring in the oil areas, it said. Tuesday's report referred to "coordinated attacks" on civilians by the government and government-backed militias, the "forcible recruitment" of young teenagers into the Sudanese armed forces to "attack their own people" in the oil areas, and an increase in government military expenditure "correlating with an increase in its oil revenue". It also pointed to an "absence of independently verified evidence that economic or other benefits of oil development accrue to indigenous communities in the oil areas". Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley has ignored calls from critics that Talisman be placed under sanctions for allegedly fuelling Sudan's civil war, CP reported on Tuesday. Rumours continued to persist that Talisman, which has seen its share price come under pressure, at least partly because of its Sudan operations, was looking to ditch its 25 percent holding in the GNPOC in Sudan at the right price, it added. The Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group, which includes a variety of Canadian development, peace and human rights organisations that work with counterparts in Sudan, has previously alleged that Canadian financial interests have been given priority over the security and human rights of people in Sudan. It has criticised what it calls "scant evidence" of positive results from the Canadian government and Talisman's policy of "constructive engagement" with Khartoum, and called for a change in policy direction in support of the civilian population of Sudan. Talisman says it remains committed to constructive engagement in Sudan, "striving to demonstrate that development and Talisman's presence can be a catalyst for progress... and peace, in Sudan".