The Persecution & Prayer Alert (Special Edition)

The Voice of the Martyrs, Canada

http://www.persecution.net

Friday, November 01, 2002

Special edition Persecution and Prayer Alerts are sent out only when news breaks that cannot wait until our regular weekly publication.

*********************************** Talisman Energy Announced Sale of Sudan Assets

In a move that has been expected for the last several months, Talisman Energy announced late Wednesday that it had struck a definitive deal to sell the Sudanese property to ONGC Videsh Ltd., a subsidiary of India’s national oil company. The sale is valued at approximately $1.2 billion Canadian.

Talisman’s chief executive Jim Buckee told a news conference in Calgary that while the company has liked their position in Sudan, “we have also always said that we would sell at the right price.”

Talisman has been involved in Sudan for four years through a 25 per cent stake in Sudan’s Greater Nile Oil production and pipeline project. The company has been heavily criticized by human-rights and church groups such as The Voice of the Martyrs that reported how revenues from the energy producer’s projects in the country were helping finance the efforts of Islamist government of Sudan in the 18-year civil war and the egregious human rights abuses against the people of south Sudan.

Buckee told the news conference, “Talisman’s shares have continued to be discounted based on perceived political risk in-country and in North America to a degree that was unacceptable for 12 per cent of our production. Shareholders have told me they were tired of continually having to monitor and analyze events relating to Sudan.” Talisman will book an after-tax gain of $340 million from the sale.

Responding to the news of Talisman’s sale, Glenn Penner, spokesman for The Voice of the Martyrs, said, “We are, of course, gratified to see Talisman leave the Sudan. I have personally experienced the shame of having to answer for Canada’s involvement in the country whenever I have been to Sudan over the last four years. The people of Sudan never saw this investment as simply that of one Canadian company. They saw it as a statement of our country’s callous indifference and desire to feed off of their corpses. The last four years have left a bloody stain on Canada’s reputation in the region that will not be washed away for some time.”

“As for how this sale will impact our public apology campaign to the people of south Sudan,” Penner added, “If anything, this should serve to even further depoliticize this campaign. We never intended this campaign to be a backhanded way to pressure Talisman. It is spiritual response to a spiritual problem; that of our indifference and greed. I urge Canadian Christians to support this initiative even more now.” For more information on VOM’s public apology campaign, go to http://www.persecution.net/sudan.htm.

The Voice of the Martyrs has been working in Sudan for over five years, providing relief and development aid, pastoral and church leadership education, Christian literature, Bibles, and raising awareness of the religious persecution facing Christians in south Sudan.

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