US congress sends Sudan divestment bill to Bush despite objections
By Wasil Ali
December 18, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The US House of Representatives voted unanimously to approve a Senate version of Sudan divestment bill aimed at providing legal protection to State and local divestment efforts in the African nation.
“America is a loving nation, and allowing our financial markets to be utilized by an evil regime which conducts religious and racial genocide is inconsistent with our values and principles” said Congressman Spencer Bachus, ranking member of House committee on financial services, in support of the bill.
The US administration has been intensively lobbying Congressmen to kill the bill citing concerns over limiting the president’s constitutional powers to conduct foreign policy.
A letter sent to the Senate Democratic and Republican leaders by the US Justice department on October 26 suggested that courts might be involved in knocking down a provision of the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act that would give congressional authorization for state and local governments’ divestment schemes.
The US State department sent a similar letter making same arguments on constitutional and foreign policy grounds rather than legal.
The Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 specifically targets the main sources of revenue of Khartoum; oil, power production, mining and military equipment.
The Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations, has asked investors to divest their holdings in companies such as Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas [PETR.UL], India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd , and PetroChina Co Ltd , whose parent company, China National Petroleum Corp, is helping Sudan drill for oil.
Under the proposed bill no government agency shall grant federal contracts to companies believed to be conducting business in Sudan unless they certify otherwise.
However the bill exempts the regional government of Southern Sudan from the definition of the “Government of Sudan”.
The bill called on other countries to adopt similar measures in order to stop financial dealings that “enable the Government of Sudan to continue to oppress and commit genocide against people in the Darfur region and other regions of Sudan”.
State Department, deputy spokesman Tom Casey speaking hours before the bill was passed hinted that White House may be taking actions to curtail the impact of the legislation if it passes.
“We’ll continue to talk with members of Congress about as the House considers it. Certainly, I wouldn’t try and speak on behalf of the White House in terms of what actions would be taken in terms of implementation of such legislation if it does pass, but obviously we’ll be working with Congress on it as it moves forward” Casey said.
It is not clear what actions the White House may plan to take in face of the proposed bill. The US constitution enables the president to veto the bill and send it back with his objections. The US Congress needs two thirds of votes to override the presidential veto and enact it into a law.
“I don’t believe President Bush can afford to veto this bill,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., Senate sponsor of the legislation. “A veto would be an endorsement of genocide.”
If President Bush neither vetoes nor signs the bill within 10 days it automatically becomes a law.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.
(ST)