Darfur activists applaud Senate passage of divestment legislation

Save Darfur, Genocide Intervention Network, American Jewish World Service, National Association of Evangelicals, NAACP urge President Bush to end his administration’s opposition to critical measure

 

WASHINGTON – In a bipartisan show of force, the Senate unanimously passed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act which would authorize state and local governments to divest from companies that support the Khartoum government at the expense of marginalized populations in Sudan and prohibit federal contracts with those companies. Darfur activists have been aggressively pushing this legislation, and the groups – including the Save Darfur Coalition, Genocide Intervention Network, National Association of Evangelicals, American Jewish World Service and NAACP – together hailed this critical step and urged the Bush administration to end its efforts to obstruct this important legislation.


"We commend the Senate for pushing the United States towards fulfilling its responsibility to protect civilians in Darfur,” the groups said in a joint statement. “We specifically highlight the tireless efforts of Senators Dodd, Shelby, Reid and Durbin, who all worked to ensure the measure passed in a unanimous, bipartisan fashion. It is incomprehensible that at a time when significant pressure is needed to change Khartoum’s behavior, the Bush administration would delay and even oppose efforts to hit the perpetrators where it hurts the most – their wallets. Further efforts by the administration to derail this legislation must end now. The collective efforts of our organizations will not end until President Bush signs this measure into law.”

 

President Bush described the ongoing crisis in Darfur as “genocide” more than three years ago and identified the Government of Sudan and its allied militia as responsible. Since then, diplomatic efforts by the United States and the international community have failed to leverage sufficient pressure on the Government of Sudan to end the violence. In the meantime, as many as 400,000 Darfurians have been killed and more than two million displaced.

 

A U.N. peacekeeping mission authorized by the Security Council in August has yet to deploy in large part because the Government of Sudan has refused to allow non-African peacekeepers into Darfur, landing rights for U.N. transport and unfettered communications between peacekeepers. In addition, the Government of Sudan continues to bomb villages and to relocate its supporters onto land vacated by the displaced.  

 

Since 2005, 22 states and over 50 universities have adopted Sudan divestment policies.  The movement has rapidly spread through Europe: in July the European Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution calling on European Union members to support targeted Sudan divestment efforts. Seven major foreign companies - CHC Helicopter, ABB, Siemens, Rolls Royce, ICSA of India, Schlumberger and La Mancha Resources - have ceased problematic operations in Sudan or significantly changed their behavior in the country since the proliferation of the Sudan divestment movement.

 

In 2001, President Bush wrote "not on my watch" in the margins of a memo detailing the Rwandan genocide. With a little over a year left in office President Bush has an opportunity to protect civilians in Darfur and help ensure lasting peace for Sudan. Signing the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act is the first step towards fulfilling the promise he made early in his presidency.

 

The broad and diverse coalition that supported and played a critical role in the passage of Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act also includes the American Jewish Committee, the Armenian National Committee of America, the Armenian Assembly of America, B'nai B'rith International, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the National Council of Churches, the NAACP, the ENOUGH Project, STAND, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Religious Action Center, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and dozens of state and local faith-based and community organizations.

 

Who will lose their federal contracts?


The Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project of the Genocide Intervention Network, maintains a list of problematic companies supporting the Sudanese government.  The following companies appear on this list and, as of September 2007, maintained contracts with the federal government: ALSTOM (FRANCE), LAHMEYER INTERNATIONAL (GERMANY), MOTT MACDONALD (UK).

 

If SADA passes the House of Representatives and is signed into law, all companies renewing or pursuing new contracts with the federal government must certify that they do not support the Sudanese government. The bill includes explicit exemptions for South Sudan to ensure that its effects are felt by the regime in Khartoum, and not by civilians elsewhere in Sudan.