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.