Talisman offers Bush help on Sudan - Oil firm willing to help U.S. administration on Sudan policy
Financial Post, March 28
By Carol Howes
Chief executive Jim Buckee's company, Talisman Energy, believes engagement works best in Sudan.
CALGARY - Talisman Energy Inc., which continues to come under fire for its operations in Sudan, is prepared to do what it can to aid the Bush administration in considering initiatives to end the 18-year civil war, a spokesman for the oil company said yesterday.
"Kudos to the Bush administration for taking notice and, second of all, for looking at a policy for bringing peace," said David Mann, a Talisman spokesman, responding to a report in today's Financial Times. "We'll make the same offer we have in the past. We'll talk to anybody in the Bush administration."
The Financial Times said human rights and religious activists say they believe the administration will shortly announce the appointment of a high-profile special envoy to Sudan as the first step in involving the United States more actively in the conflict.
While the Clinton administration never adopted a clear policy on the war in Sudan, George W. Bush, the U.S. President, is facing pressure to do so from an unusually large and diverse coalition of domestic interests.
Christian groups that carry enormous weight with Mr. Bush and Republican congressional leaders have lobbied for U.S. engagement.
The Financial Times quoted administration officials as saying they had reached no decisions on a policy toward Sudan, but the issue was under consideration at the highest levels. The most difficult issue for the administration will be how to respond to demands for sanctions aimed at foreign oil companies, such as Talisman, doing business in Sudan.
Oil firms have been charged with financing the war and the violence appears to have worsened with the acceleration of oil drilling in southern Sudan.
"We hope they'll come to the same conclusion that we have, which is engagement and economic development works best," said Mr. Mann, whose company has a 25% interest in the 4.9-million-hectare oil project in the Heglig region. "There have been a number of people in the U.S., including ex-presidents who have suggested that sanctions and trade embargos and capital market sanctions aren't the way to go."
However, Kathy Vandergrift, a spokesperson for World Vision Canada, said unless something is done about oil revenue in Sudan there will be no incentive for the government to talk peace.
She said the International Monetary Fund has documented that since oilfields started operating in 1999, military spending has doubled to more than $300-million and 130,000 people have been displaced from areas around the oilfields by government troops.
"The revenue from oil is not being used for development purposes. Investment in agriculture has not increased significantly and we're facing another famine for up to 600,000 people in Sudan," said Ms. Vandergrift, also a co-chairwoman of the Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group, a coalition of 22 Canadian organizations. "Talisman said a few years ago, 'This is going to be a big benefit.' Well, that isn't the way it's turning out."
chowes@nationalpost.com
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