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English edition -3rd quarter 2000
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American financial backing ?
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The following article has been sent to us
by the group of Canadian associations which struggles against the conditions
of oil industry in the Sudan
Further American financial backing for Chinese investment in Sudan's oil development project? by Eric Reeves, Smith College - Abstracts. Sudan's Greater Nile oil development project has given the brutal Khartoum regime three key economic partners: Talisman Energy of Canada, the state-owned Petronas of Malaysia, and state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. The latter was recently able to tap into the American capital markets by way of an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for its domestic unit, PetroChina. Though the IPO almost failed because of opposition from a broad array of opponents (Sudan advocates, Tibet advocates, organized labour, and those concerned with national security issues raised by the deal), it did in fact limp to market, though with end proceeds reduced by as much as $7 billion. Indeed, the deal would have failed outright if not aided by an expedient capital commitment from BP Amoco. Now China is back for more American money---this time in the form of a "sovereign bond" issue. The deal will be made possible by Goldman Sachs and a few Wall Street partners---the same folks who brought the PetroChina/China National Petroleum Corp IPO to the New York Stock Exchange.[Golman Sachs, J.P.Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter says Reuters] What is a "sovereign bond" and what will it give China? A sovereign bond is in this case a bond issue that might best be compared to a blank check, filled in for between $1 billion and $2 billion, to be used exactly how the People's Republic of China wishes. The money isn't directed toward any specific project; and there aren't any specified means of repayment. This is American money flowing straight to the leadership in Beijing, completely unfettered and undirected......... Sudan's oil development possibilities remain enormous, and further development will require huge amounts of additional capital. For example, the Greater Nile project partners have concessions rights that are in areas that cannot presently be developed because of intense fighting. Chinese capital---originally US investment---may be used to develop areas that will become accessible only if there is a great deal more scorched-earth warfare by the Khartoum regime, this to clear out the civilian population that is inconveniently proximate to these newer oil regions. Indeed, Chinese security for all this may be funded out of the sovereign bond (e.g., Amnesty International reports on the presence of significant numbers of Chinese nationals operating in the oil regions, armed and evidently willing to use their weapons on Sudanese civilians). Or perhaps Chinese capital will be instrumental in the building of a second pipeline from the oil regions---either to Ethiopia, or parallel to the present pipeline reaching to Port Sudan in the north. This latter would more than double the supply of crude oil that can be pumped north---and hugely increase Khartoum's oil revenues. ...... And oil revenues from this project are what presently sustain Sudan's horrifically destructive civil conflict. These are the revenues that allow the Khartoum regime to boast it will become self-sufficient in the production of weapons that supply its "jihad" against the peoples of the south. These are the revenues that allow Khartoum to continue its $1 million/day war efforts against the peoples of the south. The Clinton administration must block this deal, using the statutory tools clearly at its disposal (viz., the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act). ... - « Indeed Christ was sold for 30 pieces of silver and our
people are being sacrificed in exchange for barrels of oil » said
the Sudanese Catholic bishops.
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