8 June 07 Could you be indirectly financing the genocide in Darfur? That’s quite a sobering thought. It’s also a distinct possibility. Today, Aegis Trust and partners launch an international campaign for the divestment of funds, including your pension and your savings, that are invested in foreign companies whose revenues support the Sudanese Government. Adverts are appearing in the Guardian, New Statesman and Amnesty magazine in the UK, in Walrus and Le Devoir in Canada, in the Mail and Guardian in South Africa, and in L’Espresso in Italy over the next few days. You can find out more about what you can do to help at www.darfurdivestment.org Many companies are investing on your behalf in a deeply troubled region at a very troubled time. Your pension and your savings could be invested in foreign companies such as the China National Petroleum Corporation (Petrochina) whose revenues are propping up the Government of Sudan. So where does that money go? A large proportion of the revenues from Chinese and other oil companies goes to the military in Darfur. In particular, Khartoum uses some of it to pay the Janjaweed to carry out the atrocities. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have already been killed in Darfur. Targeted divestment and sanctions aimed at the Sudanese leadership are part of the answer: they put pressure on the Government to end the genocide while avoiding negative consequences for ordinary Sudanese people. So what can you do to help? Visit ‘Darfur Divestment: What you can do‘ to learn more and get involved: 1. Volunteer to join or run a divestment campaign. 2. Lobby the government for targeted sanctions. 3. Join or set up a Darfur advocacy group. 4. Write to the Chinese Embassy and ask them to end their financial, political and military support for the Sudanese government until the genocide ends. 5. Donate at www.aegistrust.org. Do that and there’s one thing you can be certain of: your money will be going towards a very good cause.
