"Turn Off Sudan's Oil Wells, Say Canadian Church Visitors"
Christian leaders say they are outraged that a Canadian oil company is paying huge royalties to Sudanese government.
Hugh McCullum | posted 4/01/2001 12:00AM
Outraged by the deaths and suffering they witnessed during a seven-day, fact-finding mission to southern Sudan, five leading Canadian church officials are demanding a moratorium on all aspects of oil development, including major involvement by a Canadian company, in this oil-rich, but war-ravaged region, until peace is restored.
Eighteen years of civil war in this region have claimed more than 2 million lives and displaced 4 million people in a conflict often ignored by the rest of the world.
The church leaders also called on the Canadian government to take legal action against Talisman Energy Corp., of Calgary, Alberta, the leading oil producer in Sudan, and prevent it from pumping oil and paying huge royalties to the Islamic government of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, which, the church officials believe, is using the money to buy sophisticated weapons for use against southern Sudanese people, most of whom are Christians or animists.
The delegation said in a statement released when they returned to Canada shortly before Easter that a "peace dividend" in southern Sudan would flow from the strengthening of the African initiative IGAD (Inter-government Authority on Development).
The peace process has been floundering for several years because of internal politics and a lack of material resources to bring about a cease-fire and an ultimate peace agreement for a war that has badly affected civilians. The conflict is rooted in a complex mix of religious, racial and ancient tribal rivalries.
The Canadian church mission, organized by the Interchurch Coalition on Africa (ICCAF), included Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic officials who met New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) officials both within and outside Sudan, observed Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) and received briefings from diplomats and church leaders, from IGAD and from Sudanese officials based in exile in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya.
The NSCC, which represents churches in southern Sudan, has its administrative offices in Nairobi and a wide network of churches and field operations inside southern Sudan.
The delegates traveled under difficult and dangerous conditions in southern Sudan from April 1 to 9. Without explanation, the Khartoum government refused at the last minute to give the delegates visas to enter the north.
In a sharply-worded statement handed to Canada's minister of foreign affairs, James Manley, and his deputy for Africa, David Kilgour, the church officials said: "We are outraged that a Canadian company is a major producer of oil located in southern Sudan, paying huge royalties to the unaccountable northern military dictatorship led by General Omar al Bashir. We hold the Bashir government largely responsible for the atrocities committed against the southern Sudanese peoples."
The Canadian government had no immediate comment.
The church delegation asked for a moratorium to be imposed by the international community against Swedish, Chinese and Malaysian, as well as Canadian, oil producers, ordering them to cease exploration, development, infrastructure support, production and sale of oil until a peace accord can be negotiated by IGAD, which consists of Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and northern and southern Sudan.
Little progress has been made in peace efforts largely because of the intransigence of the warring parties—Khartoum and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/SPLA)—and because of the withdrawal of western financial aid to enable IGAD to prepare and negotiate peace on the basis of six negotiated principles.
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