German Siemens to pull out of Sudan
Jan 18, 2007 (BERLIN) — German technologies group Siemens is planning to withdraw from Sudan, in view of the current humanitarian situation in Darfur region, said a report published here by the Die Welt.
The company says that it will no longer accept any further orders from Sudan. Until now, the group has had an annual turnover of tens of millions of euros in Sudan.
The German firm is under pressures from US divestment activists who consider the firm as one of the western firms dealing with the Sudanese regime.
Darfur activists say Siemens has been involved in at least five major projects in Sudan since 1999, many of which are in the country’s energy industry.
Last October, Siemens has signed a global frame agreement with MobiTel Sudan, part of Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) Group, to supply 2.5G radio wireless infrastructure in a deal worth EUR20 (US$25.2) million.
A Sudan divestment campaign against companies working in Sudan would bring real, unsustainable economic pressure to bear on Khartoum, activists say.
The central purpose of the divestment campaign must be to force these complicit companies to suspend all business and commercial activities in Khartoum until the genocide in Darfur ends and a final peace agreement with the people of southern Sudan is signed and implemented, said Eric Revees.
Swiss technologies company ABB stopped doing business in Sudan at the beginning of the year until further notice, saying that the political and economic risks had become too great.
(ST)