S.C. law prohibits investment in companies contributing to Sudanese genocide

South Carolina has become the 25th state to adopt a targeted Sudan divestment law that prohibits investing in companies that contribute to genocide in Sudan.

The law prohibits the South Carolina Retirement Systems from investing in companies that operate in Sudan and contribute to the genocide in Darfur. The South Carolina Retirement Systems has no ties to companies that invest in Sudan.

The conflict in Darfur, Sudan, has taken the lives of about 500,000 non-Arab Sudanese and displaced 2.5 million into refugee camps since 2003.
Dr. J. Austin Watson, executive director of Lighthouse Ministries in Florence and a board member with the Darfur Action Group of South Carolina, said the new state legislation holds people accountable.

“It helps put pressure on Sudan to stop the genocide,” he said. “This is another way to show (Sudan’s) government that we’re not going to continue with allowing (the genocide) for another five years.”

Although Gov. Mark Sanford didn’t sign Senate Bill 241, it became law at midnight June 5.

Watson said support is key to the genocide being stopped.

“This is the first genocide of this century,” he said. “It’s sad when you have a government killing people and people starving to death because food is being blocked from refugee camps, and no action taken.”

Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, introduced the legislation, which received bipartisan sponsorship and passed unanimously through the Senate Finance Committee and on the Senate floor.

Rep. Joseph Neal, D-Hopkins, carried the bill in the House of Representatives, where it went to the House floor and received unanimous approval.

Hartsville resident Lindsey Wilkes is a founding member of the Darfur Action Group and is executive director of GENed, an organization that educates people about genocide. She said the bill is important because people don’t realize how far their dollars go.

“A lot of times, it’s easy to not care and disconnect from a place because it’s so far away,” she said. “If the government doesn’t have the funds to finance the genocide, they can’t continue with it.”

On Dec. 31, President George Bush signed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act that allows states to adopt polices of targeted Sudan divestment.

The legislation prevents the South Carolina Retirement Systems from investing in 24 companies that operate in Sudan and indirectly contribute to the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

Oil companies such as China-based PetroChina, through its parent company China National Petroleum Corp.; Malaysia-based Petronas; Lundin Petrolium in Schlumberger and ONGC in India are linked to Sudan, according to the Web site www.SaveDarfur.org. These companies purchase Sudan’s oil, which funds 70 percent of Sudan’s military budget.

Sudan is divided with the north being a mostly dominant Arab area and the south filled with nomadic black tribes. The south also is home to the oil-rich city of Abyei. Treaties are in place to keep the country together but in 2011 the southern portion will have the option of separating from the north, taking Abyei and billions of dollars from oil revenue with it.

But Wilkes said that wouldn’t necessarily make the killing go away.

“As South Carolinians, we definitely need to make a difference here with participation,” she said. “Educating people locally on genocide and making some noise is very important. It’s much better to be proactive rather than reactive so that we don’t get in a situation where we would have to pull out form an investment later.”

As of the most recently available filings, FranklinTempleton, J.P. Morgan Chase, Capital Group/American Funds, Fidelity Investments and Vanguard are the largest U.S. mutual fund company investors linked to PetroChina. Harvard University pulled all investments out of PetroChina in 2005 for this reason.

Mark Hanis, executive director of the Genocide Intervention Network, said the divestment bill should be passed across the nation, mainly because people don’t realize the seriousness of an issue until their money is affected.

“South Carolina’s adoption of the targeted Sudan divestment model is a landmark achievement,” he said in a press release. “(It) sends a strong message to the government of Sudan and the companies that are its financial lifeline.”