We applaud the stiff economic sanctions President Bush imposed against Sudan Tuesday and join him in urging the United Nations to take stronger actions to end the genocide in Darfur, which has claimed 200,000 lives and left 2 million people homeless.
Among other steps, the sanctions will bar 31 Sudanese companies owned or controlled by Sudan’s government from the U.S. banking system and prevent three Sudanese individuals, including a prominent rebel leader, from doing business with U.S. companies or banks.
Meanwhile, U.N. Undersecretary-General Jean-Marie Guehenno announced the world body will have at least 1,000 peacekeeping troops in the Darfur region by the end of August – the first of a proposed mission of more than 20,000 soldiers and civilian police. That so-called “heavy support package” will reinforce African Union troops who have so far failed to stop janjaweed militias from slaughtering civilians in Darfur.
The U.S. and U.N. actions Tuesday capped mounting diplomatic pressure on Sudan. British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched his farewell tour of Africa in Libya on Tuesday, with the goal of building support for action on Darfur as well as climate change. And private boycott efforts are beginning to hammer Sudan as well. Fidelity Investments, the world’s biggest mutual- fund company, has slashed its stake in PetroChina Co., a major buyer of Sudanese oil, according to a May 15 regulatory filing.
Fidelity’s U.S. funds sold 91 percent of their holdings in PetroChina during the first quarter of 2007, according to Bloomberg News. Fidelity’s move is the latest success scored by groups such as the Sudan Divestment Task Force, which have been trying to influence universities, investors and pension funds to pull their money out of foreign companies that operate in Sudan. Colorado joined that movement on April 9 when Gov. Bill Ritter signed a law prohibiting public pension funds in Colorado from investing in firms with ties to the Sudanese government.
Bush’s action Tuesday carries out a threat he made six weeks ago that the U.S. would act if Sudan did not permit a full deployment of U.N. peacekeeping forces, allow aid to reach the Darfur region and end its support for the janjaweed.
The Post applauds the latest U.S. sanctions and welcomes Colorado’s support of the divestment movement. We don’t want our dollars, public or private, supporting genocide.
