US Arkansas teachers vote against Sudan investments

June 20, 2007 (Little Rock) — Trustees for the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System have voted against investing in companies that do business in Sudan because the country has been accused of genocide in its Darfur region.

The trustees approved the resolution at a meeting Tuesday in Heber Springs.

The resolution says it is well-documented that the Sudanese government has been promoting genocide in the country’s Darfur region.

More than 200,000 people have died since fighting broke out between government-backed militia fighters and rebel groups in Darfur in 2003.

Last month, system executive director Paul Doane said the system’s investments in two companies doing business in Sudan were valued at $21.6 million. Doane says one company is pulling out of Sudan and the other has already done so.

(AP)