Sudan oil exploration has 'appalling effects'

Report links oil industry to bomings, mass displacements

By ART BABYCH
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

The 34-page report by Doctors without Borders, known by its French title, M‚decins Sans Fronti‚res (MSF), also highlights what it calls "the appalling effects" of oil explorations in the area of the civilian population.

Talisman Energy Inc., is a partner in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, one of two large oil consortiums operating in the western Upper Nile.

Canadian churches and NGOs, noting that a federal government report in the late 1990s said Talisman's presence in Sudan was exacerbating the lengthy civil war, have repeatedly called on the oil company to pull out of the region.

At a news conference April 29, MSF spokesperson David Morley declined to discuss the effects of Talisman's involvement in Sudan, saying only that the aim of the report is to convey "the enormous consequences" of the war waged by both sides and its "appalling effects on the civilian population."

"What is clear is that the war in western Upper Nile is inexorably killing off the people of the area" - David Morley

Violence, disease and malnutrition have killed tens of thousands, he said. Thousands more have fled the region and now live in refugee camps and displaced settlements.

As well, the health consequences of the war are enormous, he said. "Over 100,000 people are known to have died from one war-related disease alone - kala azar," he said. "Additional mortality from violence, other diseases, and malnutrition is likely in the tens of thousands."

The report, titled Violence, Health and Access to Aid, was based on information collected by the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization over the past 14 years and on interviews with over 100 displaced people during 2001 and 2002.

"What is clear is that the war in western Upper Nile is inexorably killing off the people of the area," said Morley. "The only way to ensure that civilians are adequately protected and assisted is to establish permanent and appropriate humanitarian activity in the area."

He said that goal could be accomplished if the warring parties support "full and unhindered humanitarian access to and protection of populations."

In addition, the international community must fully commit to establishing a permanent humanitarian presence in the western Upper Nile and the warring parties need to cease targeting relief centres as part of their war strategy, he said.

Canadian churches, along with Sudanese Church partners announced on the same day that they would present what they said was "disturbing, new evidence of oil-related abuses at Talisman's annual shareholders' meeting in Calgary the following day and would call for suspension of its activities in Sudan.

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