wfn.org | Tell Canadian oil company to pull out of Sudan, committee asks

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6019 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

27-June-2000
GA00070

	Tell Canadian oil company to pull out of Sudan, committee asks

	by Edmund Doogue

LONG BEACH, June 27–The General Assembly Committee on Global Mission and
International Issues has asked the Assembly to urge Canada's Talisman Oil
Company, in which the church is a major shareholder, to end its oil
exploration and production in Sudan.

	The PC(USA) might also consider substantially reducing its holdings in the
company if the oil operations in Sudan are not halted. The Assembly will
consider the committee's recommendations within the next four days.

	According to a resolution approved by the committee, the oil company's
operations are providing the Sudanese government, the company's local
partner, with "resources to continue its war against the southern Sudanese."
Some two million people have died in the war or from the disease and
starvation provoked by the conflict, the resolution states.

	The resolution was presented to the committee by Timothy Hoyt Duncan on
behalf of  Trinity Presbytery, S.C., of which he is a member, and  Shenango
Presbytery, Pa.

	It calls on the General Assembly to contact Talisman Oil Company and urge
them "to withdraw from Sudan and cease further oil exploration and
production in Sudan until a lasting, negotiated peace has been achieved."

	The resolution also calls on the Assembly to refer "questions of divestment
of the stock of the Talisman Oil company held by entities of the PC(USA) to
the Committee on Mission Responsibility through Investment, urging a
reduction of PC(USA) shares to the minimum required to retain a voting
presence among shareholders."

	The resolution states that in the past 17 years the "continuing war" in
Sudan "has not only resulted in large numbers of dead and displaced, but
also has destroyed the economy of Sudan, leaving millions without health
care, education and the basic necessities of life, and has made
life-sustaining occupations hazardous due to raids and land mines"

	The crisis in Sudan has long been a matter of concern to churches
worldwide. Despite peace negotiations and U.S. pressure on the Islamic
government in the capital, Khartoum, in the north of the country, the
government continues raids on rebels in the mainly Christian south, often
bringing death to civilians as well as rebels.

	Duncan told the Assembly news service that since the early 1990s his
presbytery had partnerships with churches in northern and southern Sudan.
"We have a Sudanese family in our congregation," said Duncan, who added that
Haruun Ruun, executive director of the New Sudan Council of Churches, based
in Nairobi, Kenya, is a member of that family.

	Duncan said that his presbytery had not contacted the oil company about the
issue. However the resolution states that Talisman Oil "has yet to respond
positively to shareholder initiatives to amend its involvement with the
government of Sudan to protect the rights of the people of Sudan."

	Despite opposition by a commissioner who said that if Sudan did not sell
oil through Talisman it would use some other company, the committee approved
the resolution by a large majority.

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