US Kansas reluctant to tackle Sudan divestment

Nov 16, 2006 (TOPEKA, Kansas) — State leaders are expressing little interest in preventing the state pension system from making investments in Sudan. The Kansas Public Employees Retirement System has about 43.5 million dollars invested in companies tied to the volatile region of Africa.

K-PERS says the investments are only one-third of one percent of the pension system’s 12.7 billion dollars in assets. And the money in Sudan is not tied to the government or Sudanese companies.

But that did not stop some state leaders from acknowledging the violence in Darfur is a serious problem. Fighting between rebels and government-backed militias has raged there since 2003. More than 200,000 people have been killed.

Activist Sonny Scroggins organized protests three days this week in Topeka asking K-PERS and legislators to adopt a divestment policy.

Senate President Steve Morris says divestment is difficult because deciding how strong ties are between a company and Sudan is a judgment call.

(AP)