October 9, 1999
Dear friends,
Despite repeated appeals by Canadian churches and their Sudanese church partners, and many Canadian NGOs, the Government of Canada has failed to take action against Talisman Energy Inc., a Canadian company that has invested $1 billion to help the National Islamic Front Government of Sudan to develop Sudan's oil reserves. Why is Canadian involvement in Sudan's oil development program an issue? Talisman's investment in Sudan will effectively help the Sudanese government, an illegal regime that came to power in a military coup, wage a war that relentlessly, systematically and terrifyingly effectively targets civilians.
Following is a list of reasons why the Talisman-Sudanese regime business partnership is a catastrophic liability for the Sudanese people and a compelling indictment of the Government of Canada for its failure, if not refusal, to rein in Talisman.
1.Talisman's legal business partner, the NIF regime, is one of the world's worst violators of human rights. International human rights agencies and the UN Commission on Human Rights have accumulated volumes of carefully gathered evidence charging the Sudanese regime with acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other crimes against humanity. Atrocities include engineered famine (by causing massive population displacements and banning international humanitarian food aid), aerial bombardment of civilian population centres, a scorched earth policy in the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan, the systematic rape of women as a weapon of war, and the encouragement of slavery.
2.More than two million people, 90 percent of them innocent civilians, have died in Sudan's civil war since the latest phase began in 1983. Another 4.5 million have been displaced. Last year 2.6 million were brought to the brink of starvation largely because of the scorched earth policies of the Sudanese regime, and especially because the regime banned humanitarian relief agencies from reaching war-affected populations at a critical time. The numbers of war-related dead and displaced are staggering. And yet, Talisman chooses to continue as a partner in business with a regime that bears the bulk of responsibility for this chronicle of human misery and devastation.
3.Moreover, the ownership of the oil reserves that Talisman is helping to develop is disputed. The oil fields lie in southern Sudan but are controlled by the central government in the north. The Sudanese regime's refusal to give the south a say in the development of the fields was one of the original causes of Sudan's 16 year civil war. By investing in Sudan under these circumstances, Talisman is exploiting the conflict -- perhaps the worst in the world today -- for financial gain.
4.There are credible reports that the Sudanese regime has forcibly and violently removed populations from the oil producing regions, including concessions owned by Talisman, to make the oil fields secure for foreign companies. Such action would violate the provisions of Protocol II of the Geneva Convention, and constitutes a war crime under international law. The significance of such a violation can hardly be overstated.
5.Oil will give the regime an enormous military advantage over regional populations fighting for a say in the development of their own natural resources and their right of self-determination. After decades of exploitation and abuse from successive northern governments, southern Sudanese in particular wish to decide for themselves, through a democratic process, whether they want to remain in a united Sudan or form an independent country. The Sudanese regime is determined, through violent means, to deny them this choice.
6.Oil revenues can be used to buy new weapons to increase the regime's comparative advantage on the battlefield. It desperately needs these funds; the war is costing it in excess of $1 million a day. Several months ago Hassan al-Turabi, the most influential member of the NIF government, declared publicly that oil revenues made possible by Talisman and other foreign companies would be used to build factories for missiles and tanks.
7.Talisman and other foreign oil companies working in Sudan will provide the regime with free oil. This will save the regime $400 million a year in oil imports, thus freeing up additional resources for the war effort. The oil kept for domestic use can be refined into fuel for military use in Sudanese refineries, including for planes that regularly bomb civilian population centres. There are reports that oil from Talisman's wells has already been processed for military purposes.
8.Oil is a major disincentive to the NIF government to negotiate in good faith in the ongoing regional peace process managed by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The IGAD talks are based on a Declaration of Principles which addresses the two key issues in the conflict, the right of self-determination and a secular constitution. Oil revenues will bolster the Sudanese regime's confidence to try to either win the war outright, which would have catastrophic consequences for civilians, or force an unjust peace on the south.
The oil is now flowing! As of August 1999, oil from southern Sudan began flowing through a 1600 km pipeline to the international export market. Much of the oil comes from wells drilled by Talisman, which also financed construction of the pipeline. Already the regime has bought 50 tanks from Poland and there are reports of additional new weapons purchases. Predictions that oil development would result in an intensification of the war now seem to be coming true.
Talisman doesn't seem to care
Talisman seems driven only by the promise of huge profits. Canadian churches and NGOs have on several occasions engaged Talisman in dialogue about the potentially harmful impact of its investments in Sudan. Talisman has not only demonstrated a lack of cooperation, it has been dismissive and has displayed a shocking disregard for the overwhelming body of reports citing atrocities in Sudan. It has called the allegations of human rights abuses made by the UN Commission on Human Rights and reputable human rights agencies "lurid and exaggerated." It defends its presence in Sudan by declaring itself to be a benevolent purveyor of Western values, and says it is providing for the economic development of all of Sudan. But these self-serving claims ignore Talisman's role in the oil-driven devastation that is so concentrated in the south.
Now that the pipeline is built and the oil flowing, there is even less incentive for Talisman to heed its critics. Clearly, Talisman has placed profits before people in the most cynical of ways, with terribly destructive implications for tens of thousands of Sudanese women and children, who make up 90 percent of the casualties of the war in Sudan. The oil now flowing through the pipeline, financed by a Canadian firm, is tainted with the blood of innocent Sudanese.
Whither the Canadian government?
All the Canadian government has done about Talisman is to warn the company about the dangers its personnel may face by working in a war zone. It says it does not have the legislative tools to restrict Talisman's ability to operate in Sudan and hold it accountable for any role it plays in the direct or indirect violation of human rights and international law. This is not true. Research has shown that Canada does have the legal means to take action against Talisman. What is lacking is political will.
Canada is providing valuable support for a regional peace process for Sudan, which should be recognized. However, such support should not be accepted as a reason for inaction on Talisman. Oil development is a disincentive for the regime to talk peace at the IGAD table. It threatens to negate the usefulness of any support for the peace process. Clearly, Canada should adopt a dual policy of supporting peace initiatives while at the same time taking decisive steps to restrict Talisman's ability to further strengthen the Sudanese regime.
The weight of evidence suggests that Talisman is effectively complicit in crimes against humanity in Sudan, and presents the Government of Canada, and all shareholders in Talisman, with a clear moral imperative: act now to prevent Talisman from aggravating an already too costly civil war.
