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

To: Tomas who wrote (582)	11/19/1999 12:29:00 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1713

Talisman - Ottawa marches to own beat in Sudan: Axworthy Rejects U.S. criticism Sheldon Alberts and Joel-Denis Bellavance National Post, November 19 OTTAWA AND ISTANBUL - Lloyd Axworthy, the Foreign Affairs Minister, yesterday rejected the strong U.S. criticism of Canada for continuing commercial operations in Sudan, saying the Canadian government conducts its own foreign policy and does not take marching orders from the U.S. government. "We do consult with the U.S., but Canada has its own policy, has its own approach and has its own direction," said Sean Rowan, a spokesman for Mr. Axworthy. "We do things our own way." Mr. Axworthy is in Istanbul to attend the summit of the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe. The U.S. government redoubled its criticism of Canada for continuing commercial operations in Sudan, accusing Ottawa of abandoning its "high road" approach to foreign policy by "turning a blind eye" to the Khartoum regime's atrocities. The State Department in Washington was also critical of Talisman Energy Inc,. accusing the Calgary-based oil firm of fuelling war in Sudan by undermining the U.S. effort to isolate the Muslim fundamentalist government in Khartoum. But Mr. Rowan disputed the U.S. assertions, saying that Canada has consistently discouraged Canadian companies from doing business in Sudan and has suspended all support, including export finance and trade development programs, since 1992. Today, the head of a Canadian fact-finding mission to Sudan arrives in Geneva for a series of meetings with United Nations and European Union officials but it could be a week or longer before John Harker and his team set foot in Sudan -- a delay that critics say is unacceptable given the mounting death toll in the African nation. "I still hope to get there before the end of the month," Mr. Harker said prior to his departure for Europe. "I have held from the outset that the sooner things were clarified, the better for all concerned." The 55-year-old, Ottawa-based African affairs expert was appointed last month by Mr. Axworthy to investigate accusations by human rights groups that Talisman Energy's commercial interests in a Sudanese oil project is exacerbating the country's 16-year-old civil war. In an interview, Mr. Harker said he plans to meet in Geneva with United Nations human rights officials who assisted Leonardo Franco, the UN special rapporteur whose recent report concluded that used "bombers, helicopter gunships and artillery against unarmed civilians" are being employed in order to facilitate oil development. He will follow that up with meetings early next week in Brussels with the head of a recent European Union mission that recently returned from Sudan. The federal government is still in negotiations with the Sudanese regime over Mr. Harker's access to key oil production areas where human rights activists claim soldiers have forcibly removed and attacked civilians. Opposition critics are becoming fed up with the delays and believe Mr. Axworthy has enough evidence from the United Nations to impose export sanctions on Sudan and restrict Talisman's operations in the country. "Why wait? What more evidence does he need?" asked Svend Robinson, the New Democrat foreign affairs critic, who first wrote Mr. Axworthy last January to ask for sanctions. "People on the ground have documented the human rights abuses. The UN has documented it. His inaction is appalling and he should have acted long ago." The current Sudanese government, led by the National Islamic Front, seized power in a 1989 coup and has continued to do battle with forces of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM), based in the country's largely Christian south. Talisman is a 25% partner in the project with the Sudanese government, China and Malaysia in the Greater Nile Oil Project, which is producing more than 150,000 barrels of crude a day. Stewart Wheeler, a Foreign Affairs spokesman, said he was not aware of any difficulties in negotiations with Sudan's charges d'affaires in Ottawa regarding grant- ing Mr. Harker access to sensitive areas. nationalpost.com