US groups press for China oil divestment
May 1, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The Save Darfur Coalition stepped up its campaign against the Sudanese government on Tuesday by pressuring Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Fidelity Investments to withdraw their financial interests in a Chinese company linked to development of Sudan’s flourishing oil industry.
Berkshire Hathaway and Fidelity “are supporting the genocide in Darfur” by their investments in PetroChina, said David Rubenstein, executive director of the coalition, in a teleconference with reporters.
PetroChina, China’s No. 1 oil producer, is a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Company and a major investor in the government-owned oil exploration in Sudan.
Billionaire Warren Buffett has agreed to include the divestment request when Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meet in Omaha on Saturday. The holding company has 2.3 billion shares of PetroChina. Rubenstein praised Buffett as an “American icon” who wants to do good things in the world.
Eric Cohen, another coalition leader, said Fidelity has rejected discussion. At the end of last year, Fidelity, which is based in Boston, was the largest owner of PetroChina stocks on the New York Stock Exchange.
Purchasers of certain Fidelity mutual funds become investors in PetroChina “and unknowingly are providing financial support to the Sudanese government,” said Adam Sterling, director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force.
Anne Crowley, a Fidelity spokeswoman, told The Associated Press the Boston-based company “complies fully with all the laws when we buy or sell securities on behalf of the funds.” She said that “includes those that the U.S. government has put in place that effectively prohibit U.S. investors from investing in companies that are owned or controlled by the government of Sudan or an instrumentality of the government of Sudan.”
Crowley said the information the coalition is using regarding Fidelity’s holdings is four months old and “Fidelity’s holdings may very well be different today.” She said, however, “we do not comment on our current fund holdings because we do not believe it is in the best interest of our mutual fund shareholders.”
Still, Crowley said, “any suggestion that we support or are funding the tragedy in Sudan is patently false.”
The Darfur region of Sudan has been torn by violence since 2003, with African tribal rebels targeted by militias that observers say are supported by the government. At least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have become refugees.
The U.S. government accuses the Sudanese government of complicity in genocide and International Criminal Court prosecutors have said there is a clear link between Sudanese authorities and the janjaweed militias blamed for much of Darfur’s bloodshed. Sudan has rejected the allegations.
“The suffering is indescribable,” said the actress Mia Farrow, who told reporters she has made four visits to the Darfur region since 2004. “Take your money out of Fidelity,” she urged mutual fund investors.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International reported that 96 U.S. senators had asked Chinese President Hu Jintao to “more consistently use” China’s economic influence with Sudan to get a full contingent of U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.
(AP)