Oil companies complicit in massive displacement, says rights group

International oil companies in Sudan share full responsibility with the Sudanese government for the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians from oil concession areas, as well as countless other human rights abuses, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW). Oil company executives had "turned a blind eye" to well-reported government attacks on civilians and civilian targets, including aerial bombings of hospitals, churches, relief operations and schools, it said in a new report entitled "Sudan, Oil and Human Rights". "Oil companies operating in Sudan were aware of the killing, bombing and looting, that took place in the south, all in the name of opening up the oilfields," said Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher for HRW. "These facts were repeatedly brought to their attention in public and private meetings, but they continued to operate and make a profit as the devastation went on." But the international oil companies have repeatedly denied any complicity. Canadian Talisman repeatedly claimed it was a force for good in the region by providing "development" opportunities for local Sudanese, and adopting a set of "Sudan Operating Principles" which promoted human rights protection, HRW said. It also went as far as paying for costly satellite photographs by an "expert" to "prove" that no displacement had taken place at all, but limited the scope of the project to several small areas inside its concession, the report added. Sudanese government oil revenues rose from zero in 1998 to almost 42 percent of total government revenue in 2001. According to the government, 60 percent of the US $580 million received in oil revenue in 2001 was absorbed by its military for foreign weapons and a domestic arms industry. [To access the HRW report click on the following: www.hrw.org]