News Article by REUTERS posted on January 22, 2001 at 00:10:45: EST (-5 GMT)
FEATURE-Talisman hopes work in Sudan will silence critics
By Alistair Lyon
KHARTOUM, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Stung by criticism for its role
in
Sudan's nascent oil industry, Canadian oil company Talisman
Energy is turning
its attention to providing basic amenities and
monitoring human rights abuses
in the country's southern war
zone.
Talisman executives see activities such as providing
schools, clinics and
water wells as front-line defences against
marauding rebels -- as well as
answering critics at home.
"We are positive on the concept of constructive engagement,"
Ralph
Capeling, Talisman's general manager in Sudan, told
Reuters. "Those people
attacking us should support us and
encourage other Western companies to come
here. We are making a
significant contribution."
Talisman ran into a storm of criticism after taking a 25
percent stake in
the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company
(GNPOC), a consortium now
producing nearly 200,000 barrels per
day (bpd) of oil from Unity state in
southern Sudan.
The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has declared
oil workers
targets in its long-running struggle to win autonomy
and secular rule for the
black African, non-Muslim south from
the mainly Arabic-speaking, Muslim
north.
Some church groups and human rights advocates accuse
Talisman of
indirectly helping to fund the Islamist government's
war effort and argue
that conflict over oil has exacerbated a
civil war that has claimed an
estimated two million lives since
its present phase erupted in 1983.
They talk of a "scorched earth policy" by government troops
to drive local
people from the oil-producing areas in a conflict
complicated by tribal
feuding and factional fighting.
A CODE OF ETHICS
Rather than heed U.S.-backed calls for divestment from
Sudan, Talisman
shareholders last year endorsed the principle of
monitoring compliance with
an international code of ethics for
Canadian business and voted for an
independently audited report
on its operations in Sudan to be completed
within a year.
Hence the drive to demonstrate good corporate citizenship in
a country
placed under U.S. trade sanctions for its alleged
support for international
terrorism and human rights abuses.
Talisman executives are delighted with the results, though
military
restrictions on travel to GNPOC's concession area make
it virtually
impossible for journalists to verify them.
"We are creating a secure environment to work in, not with
fences and
machineguns, but by working with the community so
that they feel part of the
operation and will dissuade potential
disrupters," said Talisman security
adviser Mark Dingley, a
Kenyan lawyer and former soldier.
He cited his experience in the government-held Dinka village
of Pariyang,
regarded as an SPLA stronghold until fighting in
1986 prompted many people to
flee.
"When I first went there in May 1999, the military garrison
was as big as
the civilian population of about 5,000. It was
very tense," Dingley said.
He said Talisman, responding to local requests, had built
and staffed a
clinic, and, with its GNPOC partners, supplied two
water wells, a large
generator and a school, as well as backing
a farming project designed to
produce a crop surplus. The
government chipped in with a new church and
mosque.
"Word spread, people began returning, even from the SPLA,
with government
encouragement. The population has risen to about
18,000 and the garrison has
been reduced by at least two thirds
because the troops are not needed,"
Dingley said.
EXPANDING BUDGETS
Talisman plans to spend $2 million on community development
this year,
more than double last year's budget.
The GNPOC, whose other partners are Chinese, Malaysian and
Sudanese state
oil companies, is following suit, with a
community development budget of $1.8
million for this year, up
from $600,000 last year and zero previously.
U.N. agencies, committed to operating on both sides of the
front lines,
will not work directly with Talisman or GNPOC,
targeted for criticism by many
private relief groups.
"Still, we are trying to meet NGOs (non-governmental
organisations) to
avoid duplication. We hope to work in
parallel, if not in partnership, with
them, especially in health
and food security," said Ian Taylor, Talisman's
community
development manager.
"We are getting a lot of attack from international NGOs and
a lot of
support from Sudanese ones," he said.
Talisman has sent government security officers seconded to
GNPOC to Canada
for training, producing what Capeling described
as an amazing impact on their
willingness to discuss human
rights abuses and accept the notion of
community.
Dingley said Sudanese state security organs had recently
invited a young
southerner, a Dinka Christian working for
Talisman, to investigate
allegations of human rights abuses.
The company cited the choice of the southerner as evidence
of how its
presence had brought about changes in attitudes on
human rights.
Talisman executives say they are convinced their approach
can help the
company's profits as well as fend off its critics.
"If we can show that
this enhances security, improves the
ability to work, and feeds the bottom
line, it could unlock
tremendous private sector resources for development,"
Taylor
said. "Human rights and community development are to oil
companies
today what environmental issues were in the 1970s."