US lawmakers seek to punish firms operating in Sudan
Sept 21, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — Some international companies doing business with Sudan would be barred from receiving U.S. government contracts under legislation unveiled by congressional Democrats hoping to end the killing in the African country.
“No one should have to worry that their tax dollars are supporting genocide,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat. “This bill is designed to wash the blood off our federal contracts,” she told reporters.
Lee and about 47 other Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing legislation that would establish a list of companies worldwide that are thought to directly or indirectly support the violence in Darfur through their business dealings.
Meanwhile the Senate approved a bill with milder sanctions to block U.S. aid other than humanitarian assistance to Sudan, and block assets and visas for people deemed involved in acts of genocide or war crimes in Darfur. The bill also would bar from U.S. ports vessels that are engaged in the oil trade or military assistance to Sudan.
The Senate bill also authorizes limited military assistance to the Darfur region.
The bill pushed by House Democrats would target companies that sell military equipment to Khartoum, dual-use technology such as civilian radar systems and oil-related and mining firms that are important to Sudan’s economy.
Lee estimated that during 2004-2006, such companies received more than $600 million in contracts from the U.S. government.
American firms have been barred from doing business in Sudan since 1997, according to an aide to Lee.
Arab nomads, known as the Janjaweed, have driven non-Arab farmers from their villages in an extension of a long conflict over farmland and grazing, according to the United States, the United Nations and rights groups.
Over the past few years, an estimated 450,000 people in Darfur have been killed and another 2.5 million displaced from the western Sudan region. Thousands are dying each week in squalid conditions.
“If we can stop the flow of money into the Sudan we can begin to get the Sudanese government to pay attention,” said Rep. Jim McDermott, a Washington state Democrat.
Among the companies targeted by the proposed legislation are Kuwait Petroleum Corp.; Siemens AG
In April, the House voted 416-3 for legislation authorizing the U.S. government to freeze assets of individuals or their relatives responsible for genocide or war crimes in Sudan.
The measure also would protect the rights of U.S. states to divest public pension funds from some companies operating in Sudan. But that provision has run into problems in the Senate because of opposition from the U.S. financial services industry, according to Lee.
(Reuters)