Save Darfur Coalition’s efforts may be outdated: US envoy
Sept 9, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — Activist groups trying to force mutual-fund companies – including Boston’s Fidelity Investments – to divest from firms with ties to the Sudanese government may be disrupting sensitive talks under way to bring peace to the war-torn country, says President Bush’s special envoy to Sudan.
Andrew Natsios, Bush’s envoy and a veteran political player in Massachusetts, praised groups such as the Save Darfur Coalition for being “well intentioned” and helping to “publicize” the suffering of millions of people in Sudan’s southern region of Darfur.
Darfur has been racked for years by war and what many call open genocide by the Arab-dominated Sudanese government against the region’s black African population.
But Natsios, the former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development and ex-chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, said activists’ efforts were “more useful eight to 12 months ago” but are perhaps outdated today. The Sudanese government has “very reluctantly” agreed to allow more United Nations peace-keeping troops in Darfur, following massive international pressure on the leaders in Khartoum, Natsios said.
“Some of the advocacy groups want to inflict pain for pain’s sake” against the government in Sudan, Natsios said late last week in an interview with the Herald.
He suggested calls to pressure mutual-fund companies, including efforts to push Fidelity into divesting from PetroChina, could disrupt ongoing delicate talks that are finally starting to work. China, considered a supporter of the Khartoum government, has been active in recent talks, he noted.
He added the Bush administration also opposes the divestment campaign because it “politicizes financial markets.”
But local activists say they have every intention of pressing ahead with their divestment efforts.
“We’re independent activists,” said Eric Cohen, chairman of the Boston-based Investors Against Genocide, a member of the Save Darfur Coalition.
Cohen’s group, previously known as Fidelity Out of Sudan, has waged a media campaign against the Boston mutual-fund giant for its investments in PetroChina. Though Fidelity has reduced some of its PetroChina holdings, it still owns company shares, infuriating activists.
Last week, the Save Darfur Coalition and Investors Against Genocide expanded the divestment campaign to three other fund companies, including Vanguard, to protest their investment practices.
Cohen said he respected what Natsios is doing in Sudan.
But he said diplomats often don’t like groups meddling during tense negotiations, even though privately they view activists’ efforts as useful pressure points on governments.
“It’s a good-cop/bad-cop situation,” he said, adding groups are actually “helping strengthen the hand” of negotiators.
Fidelity has said it is complying with all U.S. laws regarding Sudan, which has been targeted with some sanctions by the U.S. government. Natsios said those sanctions are working.
(Boston Herald)