Vince, Thanks for keeping the antennas up and posting. <comments were made by a US Congressman Donald Payne (New Jersey)(African Subcommittee) accusing Talisman's involvement with the Islamic Fundamentalist government of Sudan as actively financing human rights violations. The issues of slavery and dislocation of people near the oilfields were raised.> Furthermore, this comment from recent news <The American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), founded in 1994, asked Fidelity Investments and The Vanguard Group to take a hard look at Talisman Energy (TLM: news, msgs). The group claimed that revenues raised from the oil project that Canada's largest oil and gas producer is participating in would enable Sudan's fundamentalist government to step up its attacks on non-Muslim minorities. The oil is located in the lands of the resisting Dinka tribe, according to AASG. "Talisman
is expropriating this resource from the indigenous people who will then be murdered and enslaved with the proceeds of its sale." AASG President Charles Jacobs said in a statement.>.....Followed by a response by TLM's CEO <For its part, Talisman said it disagrees with
the accusations. "It's wrong. There's a very complex situation there and it lends itself to easy sensationalism," Talisman President and
CEO Dr. Jim Buckee told CBS.MarketWatch. "It is not true that the
government of Sudan is deliberately, systematically committing genocide. That's just rubbish." Responding to a charge by the group that the Sudanese were "cleaning" the fields of Dinka villages, Buckee said that the fields were not even in the Dinka area. "There's
nobody there. I'll show you photos. It's just flat, mud, there's
nothing."> What I find interesting to all of this is that the photos of the area are not just a bunch 35mm snapshots but rather hi-tech satellite photos from outer space starting from pre 1994. (info Arakis era)
I find US Congressman Donald Payne accusing Talisman's involvement in Sudan interesting in view of the fact that on page 81, of the March 1996 issue of Readers Digest,Congressman Payne labeled slavery as a "sub, sub issue". In the same article, Charles Jacobs research director of the American Anti-Slavery Group States "Black leaders are pressured by the Farrakhanites" followers of Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam. In the next paragraph, it states how Farrakhan has applauded the Islamic militancy of Sudanese leaders Bashir and Turrabi, whose guest he has been in Khartoum. Furthermore, the article also mentions Mohamed Athie of the International Coalition Against Chattel Slavery, who requested time to speak on behalf of enslaved Africans at Farrakhan's "Million Man" March on Washington. As reported in Reader's Digest Farrakhan's group ignored Mohamed Athie and he was not allowed to speak. FWIW, Politics as usual, it was always easier to kick around tiny Arakis rather than confront people like the Farrakhanites and the trend persists. Ed |
