2008 Woodie Awards
PetroChina fueling Darfur genocide with its unprincipled investments
Amanda MacCabe
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Soap Box
In the first week of November, PetroChina surpassed Exxon-Mobile as the biggest company in the world - the only company that can brag its worth exceeds $1 trillion. PetroChina saw its stocks skyrocket on the Asian market and do exceedingly well on the New York Stock Exchange as well. As the common proverb goes, success comes with a price. The price of PetroChina's wealth has, thus far, been the deaths of more than 300,000 Sudanese in Darfur.
The southern portion of Sudan is home to a proven 1.6 billion barrels of oil. PetroChina's parent company, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, buys up approximately 80 percent of this black gold. Thanks to China's heavy investment, Sudan's economy has become one of the fastest growing in Africa. The construction of office buildings in Khartoum is evidence of this, but the profits generally do not expand far beyond the city limits into the impoverished country where they are so desperately needed.
The government-backed, and ultimately Chinese oil industry-supported genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan is often mistakenly thought of as Muslim-Arab north versus the Christian and Animist African south. Although there are elements of the religious-ethnic divide that has stirred tension in the country since its borders were drawn, the real conflict has its roots in the allocation of resources. The mainly tribal southern and western sections of Sudan are not seeing the economic benefits that PetroChina's yuan are bringing to Khartoum.
Sudan had essentially been in a civil war since its independence in 1956. Only now has the civil war turned from rebel groups fighting government forces to heavily armed, government-backed militias committing genocide in the Darfur region. It is because of the money pouring in from PetroChina's investments in Sudanese oil that the Janjaweed - which means devil on horseback - can carry out these atrocities against the people of Darfur.
The Janjaweed are, at this moment, attacking villages and burning them to the ground. They are bounding the wrists of men, women and children and burning them alive. It is estimated that nearly 3 million people have been displaced from their homes and relocated to internally displaced-persons camps along the Sudanese-Chad border, only to be attacked again by the ruthless Janjaweed militias. This is nothing shy of ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Sudanese government.
The southern portion of Sudan is home to a proven 1.6 billion barrels of oil. PetroChina's parent company, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, buys up approximately 80 percent of this black gold. Thanks to China's heavy investment, Sudan's economy has become one of the fastest growing in Africa. The construction of office buildings in Khartoum is evidence of this, but the profits generally do not expand far beyond the city limits into the impoverished country where they are so desperately needed.
The government-backed, and ultimately Chinese oil industry-supported genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan is often mistakenly thought of as Muslim-Arab north versus the Christian and Animist African south. Although there are elements of the religious-ethnic divide that has stirred tension in the country since its borders were drawn, the real conflict has its roots in the allocation of resources. The mainly tribal southern and western sections of Sudan are not seeing the economic benefits that PetroChina's yuan are bringing to Khartoum.
Sudan had essentially been in a civil war since its independence in 1956. Only now has the civil war turned from rebel groups fighting government forces to heavily armed, government-backed militias committing genocide in the Darfur region. It is because of the money pouring in from PetroChina's investments in Sudanese oil that the Janjaweed - which means devil on horseback - can carry out these atrocities against the people of Darfur.
The Janjaweed are, at this moment, attacking villages and burning them to the ground. They are bounding the wrists of men, women and children and burning them alive. It is estimated that nearly 3 million people have been displaced from their homes and relocated to internally displaced-persons camps along the Sudanese-Chad border, only to be attacked again by the ruthless Janjaweed militias. This is nothing shy of ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Sudanese government.
Be the first to comment on this story