Pension fund pressured to sever Sudan links

THE National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) is to face pressure to sell off €30 million of investments in companies that deal with the Sudanese government.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Conor Lenihan said yesterday that he is seeking a meeting with the head of the NPRF to discuss the issue of its investments following a report by the Sudan Divestment Taskforce, which details the links between companies supporting the Sudanese government and the ongoing violence in the Darfur region in the west of the country.

The report claims the Sudanese government is using revenues generated from selling exploration rights to overseas companies to pay for military equipment being used in Darfur, where up to 400,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2003.

The Sudanese Divestment Taskforce is calling on all public pension funds to sell off holdings in companies that provide revenue to Sudan. It has identified two companies in which the National Pension Reserve Fund own shares on behalf of the Irish public that operate in Sudan.

The taskforce hopes that by putting financial pressure on the Sudanese government, the Khartoum regime will end its support for Janjaweed militias responsible for the huge death toll and the displacement of an estimated 2.5 million people.

Mr Lenihan said the NPRF earlier this year signed up to a United Nations-backed initiative that promotes a responsible and ethical investment policy and he would be seeking the NPRF to divest of their holding in companies with direct links to the Darfur situation in line with the UN initiative.