The Government should use its influence both within the EU and at the UN to halt Western investment in the oil fields of Sudan, the aid agency Trocaire has urged.
Marking a European day of action yesterday in which oil companies were accused of complicity in human rights abuses in the war-torn African state, the agency said Sudanese civilians were losing their lives to secure profits.
The Khartoum authorities were executing a "ruthless" campaign to clear local people from the oil-fields of the upper Nile, and in turn ploughing the oil money into the long-running war against southern rebels, Trocaire's director Mr Justin Kilcullen added.
"The government of Sudan is regularly bombing its citizens. It is willing to kill and injure civilians, disrupt agriculture and economic activities, and block relief and development operations to allow foreign companies to exploit oil. These oil companies are complicit in massive human rights violations."
The Irish Government had a "remarkable record" for human rights lobbying, Mr Kilcullen said. "It must use its position on the UN Security Council and in the EU to move other governments to address the link between human rights abuses and oil exploitation in Sudan. The right of foreign oil companies to exploit oil concessions cannot take precedence over the right of Sudanese civilians to live peacefully."
As a first step, the issue of oil exploitation should be placed on the agenda of ongoing talks between the EU and Sudan, he added.
A spokesman for the Irish-Sudanese Solidarity Group, Mr Dier Tong, called on the Government to work towards ending the oil ventures until a "just peace" was achieved. "Far from being a force for peace, all exploitation in my country has now become the cause for killing and displacement of the local population," he said.
