Shell provides aviation fuel to Sudans military
. | 19.05.2002 11:22
Shell Disclaims Knowledge of Military Use for Fuel in Sudan
Thu May 16, 1:13 PM ET
Jim Lobe,OneWorld US
Royal Dutch Shell, the British-based oil giant, insisted Wednesday that it was not aware its aviation fuel was being supplied to Sudanese combat aircraft one year after its chairman publicly pledged that the company would "take steps to ensure" that such supplies were cut off.
In a brief statement issued to OneWorld, Shell spokesman Mike McGarry confirmed that the company was continuing to supply aviation fuel to the military but for aircraft that were used by the World Food Programme to provide relief supplies to the war-ravaged population.
"To the best of our knowledge, we did not provide any to combat aircraft," McGarry said, adding that a new Sudanese operator, reported to be Nile Petroleum, was in the process of taking over the supply and distribution of the aviation fuel supplied by Shell in the country.
McGarry was responding to charges made Wednesday by Amnesty International that the company had failed to follow through on the promise made by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of Shell's committee of managing directors, last May 17.
In spite of that promise, according to Amnesty, Shell was still supplying aviation fuel to the Sudanese Air Force at three airfields used as bases for the Sudanese Air Force to launch attacks in areas of the country, particularly in the south where insurgents have been battling the Khartoum government for almost 19 years.
The conflict, which has taken more than two million lives and displaced at least another four million people, pits the mostly Arab National Islamic Front (NIF) government against the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA), based in the southern part of the country where the predominantly black population are mostly Christian or animist.
Despite commitments made two months ago by the NIF regime to cease aerial bombardments of civilian targets, international groups active in the region have reported a number of such attacks in recent weeks in the oil-rich western Upper Nile region that has emerged as the major strategic battleground in the civil war.
Pledges to halt attacks on civilian targets were obtained in March from both the government and the SPLA by the United States special envoy John Danforth as part of a U.S.-European mediation effort to persuade both sides to settle the conflict. But international monitors who are supposed to oversee compliance with those pledges have not yet been deployed.
At the same time, however, a ceasefire, negotiated by Danforth to cover the contested Nuba Mountains in the central part of the country, has allowed both sides to concentrate their forces to oilfield areas where fighting has intensified sharply in recent weeks. In a report released late last month, relief group Doctors Without Borders (news - web sites) accused both the government and the SPLA of responsibility for "appalling civilian mortality from infectious diseases and violence" in the area.
Amnesty said Wednesday that it continues to receive reports that government planes and helicopter gunships are "carrying out indiscriminate or apparently deliberate bombings and shellings of civilians" in the same area, noting that it feared that the toll is being under-reported due to the remoteness and prevailing insecurity of the area.
The London-based group noted that the government has refused to allow humanitarian flights to 43 locations in the area during April, putting an estimated 1.7 million civilians at risk.
"All oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, present or active in exploration and extraction of energy in Sudan, should take immediate steps to ensure that the oil they produce does not end up fueling military aircraft that carry out indiscriminate or deliberate attacks on civilians," Amnesty declared. It said more than 80 incidents of bombing attacks had been recorded in Sudan since Moody-Stuart made his pledge.
The NIF government has insisted that the ban on attacks on civilian targets in the Upper Nile should apply to attacks by SPLA forces on oil pipelines and related installations in the region, but the SPLA, backed by Washington, considers them to be a legitimate target because the revenue obtained by selling the oil to foreign companies is used by the government to pursue the war.
Despite the intensified fighting, Danforth this week said both sides are sufficiently serious about reaching a settlement to warrant Washington's continued participation in a long-term peace process.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=655&ncid=655&e=2&u=/oneworld/20020516/wl_oneworld/1032_1021572054
Thu May 16, 1:13 PM ET
Jim Lobe,OneWorld US
Royal Dutch Shell, the British-based oil giant, insisted Wednesday that it was not aware its aviation fuel was being supplied to Sudanese combat aircraft one year after its chairman publicly pledged that the company would "take steps to ensure" that such supplies were cut off.
In a brief statement issued to OneWorld, Shell spokesman Mike McGarry confirmed that the company was continuing to supply aviation fuel to the military but for aircraft that were used by the World Food Programme to provide relief supplies to the war-ravaged population.
"To the best of our knowledge, we did not provide any to combat aircraft," McGarry said, adding that a new Sudanese operator, reported to be Nile Petroleum, was in the process of taking over the supply and distribution of the aviation fuel supplied by Shell in the country.
McGarry was responding to charges made Wednesday by Amnesty International that the company had failed to follow through on the promise made by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of Shell's committee of managing directors, last May 17.
In spite of that promise, according to Amnesty, Shell was still supplying aviation fuel to the Sudanese Air Force at three airfields used as bases for the Sudanese Air Force to launch attacks in areas of the country, particularly in the south where insurgents have been battling the Khartoum government for almost 19 years.
The conflict, which has taken more than two million lives and displaced at least another four million people, pits the mostly Arab National Islamic Front (NIF) government against the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA), based in the southern part of the country where the predominantly black population are mostly Christian or animist.
Despite commitments made two months ago by the NIF regime to cease aerial bombardments of civilian targets, international groups active in the region have reported a number of such attacks in recent weeks in the oil-rich western Upper Nile region that has emerged as the major strategic battleground in the civil war.
Pledges to halt attacks on civilian targets were obtained in March from both the government and the SPLA by the United States special envoy John Danforth as part of a U.S.-European mediation effort to persuade both sides to settle the conflict. But international monitors who are supposed to oversee compliance with those pledges have not yet been deployed.
At the same time, however, a ceasefire, negotiated by Danforth to cover the contested Nuba Mountains in the central part of the country, has allowed both sides to concentrate their forces to oilfield areas where fighting has intensified sharply in recent weeks. In a report released late last month, relief group Doctors Without Borders (news - web sites) accused both the government and the SPLA of responsibility for "appalling civilian mortality from infectious diseases and violence" in the area.
Amnesty said Wednesday that it continues to receive reports that government planes and helicopter gunships are "carrying out indiscriminate or apparently deliberate bombings and shellings of civilians" in the same area, noting that it feared that the toll is being under-reported due to the remoteness and prevailing insecurity of the area.
The London-based group noted that the government has refused to allow humanitarian flights to 43 locations in the area during April, putting an estimated 1.7 million civilians at risk.
"All oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, present or active in exploration and extraction of energy in Sudan, should take immediate steps to ensure that the oil they produce does not end up fueling military aircraft that carry out indiscriminate or deliberate attacks on civilians," Amnesty declared. It said more than 80 incidents of bombing attacks had been recorded in Sudan since Moody-Stuart made his pledge.
The NIF government has insisted that the ban on attacks on civilian targets in the Upper Nile should apply to attacks by SPLA forces on oil pipelines and related installations in the region, but the SPLA, backed by Washington, considers them to be a legitimate target because the revenue obtained by selling the oil to foreign companies is used by the government to pursue the war.
Despite the intensified fighting, Danforth this week said both sides are sufficiently serious about reaching a settlement to warrant Washington's continued participation in a long-term peace process.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=655&ncid=655&e=2&u=/oneworld/20020516/wl_oneworld/1032_1021572054
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