Save Darfur Coalition responds to Buffett's PetroChina divestment

Coalition: If ‘based on price' is financial jargon for ‘links to genocide,' we applaud his move

WASHINGTON - The Save Darfur Coalition today released a statement following public reports that Berkshire Hathaway has entirely divested its PetroChina holdings.

"Mr. Buffett attributed his complete divestment of PetroChina holdings to reasons ‘based on price,'" said Allyn Brooks-LaSure, coalition spokesman. "The Save Darfur Coalition hopes that ‘based on price' is financial jargon for ‘ominous links to genocide and tragic crimes against humanity.' If so, we applaud Mr. Buffett's actions and encourage other U.S. firms with significant PetroChina holdings to divest their shares ‘based on price,' too."

The Divest for Darfur campaign has targeted Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and five U.S. mutual fund companies with the most holdings in PetroChina. Through its parent company CNPC, PetroChina is the worst of the "highest offending" companies helping fund the genocide in Darfur, according to the targeted divestment model of the Sudan Divestment Task Force. Besides Berkshire, the five targeted investment firms are Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan Chase, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, and Capital Group. Each of the firms' national headquarters was the site of a grassroots action earlier this week. Tens of thousands of activists have already signed a petition, calling on the companies to divest.

According to a poll conducted earlier this year, eight in ten Americans said they would withdraw their investments from American companies that do business with companies that directly or indirectly support genocide. Eight in ten - 82 percent - also said they would advise friends, family and co-workers against buying products or services, or investing in American companies that invest in a foreign company that directly or indirectly provide revenue to a government that perpetrates genocide. The poll was conducted by KRC Research.