The Government was today urged by Trocáire to lobby the UN and the EU to halt all western investment in the oilfields of Sudan.
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According to Trocáire civilians in Sudan are losing their lives to secure massive oil profits. The call came as the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) ' a group of 44 European organisations working for peace in the African state ' held a day of action to raise public awareness about what it refers to as "the complicity of western oil companies in human rights abuses in Sudan".
Trocáire's statement on the issue says the Sudanese government ' which fought rebels in the south of the country for more than 40 years - is engaged in a campaign to remove local people from the oilfields of the Upper Nile region of Southern Sudan.
They say the government is using the profits from the oil business to fund their war effort.
Trocáire director Mr Justin Kilcullen said the Government has a remarkable record for human rights lobbying. "It must use its position on the UN Security Council and in the EU to move other governments to address the link between human rights abuses and oil exploitation in Sudan.
"The right of foreign oil companies to exploit oil concessions cannot take precedence over the right of the Sudanese to live peacefully," he said.
Mr Kilcullen also said the government of Sudan regularly bombs its citizens. "It is willing to kill and injure civilians, disrupt agriculture and economic activities and block relief and development operations to allow foreign companies to exploit oil," he said.
According to Mr Kilcullen western oil companies are complicit in massive human rights violations. "They have not spoken out about Khartoum's [the Sudanesse capital] tactics to clear the oilfields. In fact they have requested state protection. In doing so they are directly implicated in human rights violations."
