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Gold/Mining/Energy : TLM.TSE Talisman Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (576)	11/18/1999 10:57:00 AM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1713

Talisman: Let investors be the judge - National Post, Daily Editorial Nov.18 Many Canadians are shocked and outraged by a United Nations report linking an oil project owned in part by a Canadian company with a brutal campaign against African tribesmen living in and around Sudan's southern oil fields. Well, we too are outraged -- but not shocked. The report, prepared by a special investigator for the UN Commission on Human Rights, tells a story that has been repeated many times by various NGOs since last spring. The American Anti-Slavery Group, for instance, reported earlier this year that the Canadian company, Talisman Energy Inc., "is expropriating [oil] from the indigenous people who will then be murdered and enslaved [by the government and militias] with the proceeds of the sale," and that "Talisman's investments provide the Sudanese government with both a motivation and means of waging its war against the country's southern inhabitants ... It is to the government's -- and Talisman's -- advantage to clear these people from their lands." Talisman's involvement in Sudan is not illegal. Unlike the U.S., Canada does not prohibit trade and investment in that country. But some suggest it should be -- because revenue from the oil fields helps the Sudanese regime prosecute its brutal campaign against opponents, African tribes in particular. The civil war has killed two million people since 1983 -- and displaced five million more. Prosecuting the conflict costs the Sudanese government as much as 50% of its meagre budget. In fact, government officials announced earlier this year that they would apply oil revenues to build new munitions. For its part, our government appears unconvinced. Lloyd Axworthy, the Foreign Affairs Minister, is awaiting the conclusions of Canada's own Sudanese fact-finding mission (as if another one were needed, given the abundance of UN and NGO reportage) before he makes a determination as to whether oil exploration and production are contributing to human rights abuses. Depending on the outcome of that investigation, the Canadian government may impose trade and investment sanctions. But if Talisman is made to divest itself of its Sudanese operations, it is virtually certain that European firms will step in to fill its role. Sanctions have generally proven to be quite ineffective against "rogue" states such as Sudan, especially when imposed by small players such as Canada without wide multilateral support. But that does not mean Canada, a passionate defender of peace, "soft power" and human rights in so many other contexts, should sit idly by. If nothing else, our government must publicize the results of its investigation, when it gets them, so investors can judge for themselves whether to finance a company whose activities are bankrolling such a brutal regime. Till now, Talisman has defended itself by parroting Sudanese propaganda. When questioned about the Sudanese government's well-documented practice of promoting the enslavement of non-Muslim tribesmen, for instance, Talisman president James Buckee was dismissive: "There is a longstanding practice of hostage-taking which we wouldn't characterize as slavery," he argued. "You abuse the words by calling this 'slavery.'" Buckee also defends the regime. "The government isn't in control of an awful lot," he said earlier this year. "It's not much good to blame the government." That such feeble and widely falsified arguments should be endorsed by a Canadian corporate official is an embarrassment to all Canadians, and our government would do well to distance itself from them. nationalpost.com