Major Player In Canadian Energy Sector Accused Of Violating Sudan Arms Embargo Add To ...

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At the Nyala airport in Darfur, a Petronas fuel truck supplies fuel to an Antonov An-26 military aircraft from the Sudan Armed Forces on April 17, 2012. Sudanese soldiers in uniform are also visible in the photo. Researchers and human-rights groups say the fueling of SAF aircraft by Petronas is a violation of the United Nations arms embargo on Darfur.

One of the biggest investors in Western Canada’s energy boom is facing accusations of violating a United Nations arms embargo by providing fuel to military aircraft that attack civilians in war-torn Darfur.

Petronas, the state-owned Malaysian oil and gas company, has announced plans for $36-billion in British Columbia investments. But human-rights and arms experts say the company has provided fuel to Sudanese bombers and ground-attack aircraft in Darfur, raising the question of whether Ottawa should be taking a closer look at the human-rights record of potential investors.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, visiting Malaysia this month, said he views the Petronas investment “very positively” and is “very excited” that Petronas might expand its investments.

A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, asked this week about the alleged embargo violations by Petronas, said, “Canada expects that international sanctions, including those on Sudan, will be complied with.”

Photos obtained by The Globe and Mail show a Petronas fuel truck at Nyala airport in Darfur on April 17, 2012, and Dec. 28, 2011, supplying fuel to An-26 and Su-25 aircraft of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). Antonovs are often used as improvised bombers in Darfur, and Su-25s often fire air-to-ground rockets in the region.

The UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, authorized by the UN Security Council to monitor the embargo, has said that the supply of aviation fuel for military purposes is a violation of the embargo.

“I have no hesitation in saying that Petronas is supplying fuel to SAF military aircraft,” said Mike Lewis, an aviation expert who served on the UN Panel of Experts in 2011. The company’s activities in Darfur are “no secret” and easily visible to visitors at the airport, he added.

Sudan, which has attacked villages in Darfur in some of the worst mass killings of recent times, has been subject to the arms embargo since 2004. An estimated 300,000 people have died and 1.4 million left homeless in Darfur, where Khartoum is trying to crush a rebel uprising.

Sudan’s bombing and missile attacks in Darfur have been documented repeatedly by the UN Panel of Experts over the past six years, including in its latest report this year. Its research has also put Petronas under the spotlight. In a 2007 report, the panel said Petronas was fuelling Sudan’s aircraft in Darfur. The panel has cited other companies, including Chinese and Russian arms suppliers, for providing weapons to Sudan.

Petronas spokesman Azman Ibrahim, contacted by The Globe and Mail by e-mail, was asked whether the company had violated the UN arms embargo and whether it refueled military aircraft in Darfur. He promised a response, and later said the company did not have any comment.

In an e-mail last year to the Small Arms Survey, an independent Swiss-based research group that gets funding from Canada and other governments, Petronas acknowledged that its Sudan subsidiary provides “refueling services” in Darfur. It described Nyala as a “civilian airport,” but said the Sudanese aviation authority “from time to time takes control of the operation of the services.”

Sudan restricts access to Darfur, making it difficult for journalists to travel freely there. But a Small Arms Survey report last year said photos at Nyala airport showed military aircraft “apparently being refueled on the airport’s military apron” by Petronas.

Alex Neve, secretary-general of the Canadian branch of Amnesty International, said Petronas should not be fuelling military aircraft in Darfur. “There’s no possible justification for it, no excuses for it,” he said in an interview. “It’s troubling to see their response, which is that they have a civilian business at the airport and so be it if once in a while the military takes over. Shrugging shoulders is not due diligence.”
Mr. Neve said Ottawa needs to take a closer look at the human-rights records of companies such as Petronas when it is reviewing foreign investments. “We’re faced more and more with takeovers in Canada by companies that have questionable human-rights records,” he said.

Last year, after a protracted delay, Ottawa gave approval to Petronas for a $5.2-billion takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp., a Calgary-based natural gas producer. The acquisition was among $36-billion in Petronas investments announced this month by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who said it amounts to “the largest direct foreign investment in Canada by any country.”

Malaysian oil and gas producer Petronas has confirmed that it provides fuel to Sudanese military aircraft in Darfur, despite a United Nations embargo, but it says it also supports humanitarian aid flights in the war-torn region.

Petronas, one of the biggest investors in Western Canada’s energy boom with $36-billion in planned investments, is facing criticism from human rights groups for its business links to the Sudanese military, which often bombs civilians in Darfur.

The state-owned Malaysian company, which earlier had declined to comment, issued a statement on Friday in response to a Globe and Mail report on its Darfur connections. It said it rejects any suggestion that its human rights record in Darfur is “questionable.”
Petronas confirmed that its Sudan subsidiary has been supplying aviation fuel at Nyala Airport in Darfur since 2007, but it said the fuel was primarily for civilian flights and humanitarian flights by the region’s UN and African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID). Its contract was recently renewed for another five years, it said.

The embargo was imposed by the UN Security Council in 2004 in an attempt to prevent Khartoum from dropping bombs and missiles on villages in Darfur, where the government is trying to crush a rebel uprising. The conflict has left an estimated 300,000 dead and 1.4 million homeless.

The supply of aviation fuel in Darfur for military purposes is a violation of that embargo, according to the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, the monitoring body set up by the Security Council. Petronas said the Sudanese authorities sometimes take control of the Darfur airport and give directives to fuel suppliers, including directives to refuel Sudan’s military aircraft, and Petronas feels legally obliged to comply. “The only alternative would be to cease operations altogether,” it said, noting that this would also deny fuel to the humanitarian flights.

Alex Neve, secretary general of the Canadian branch of Amnesty International, rejected the company’s arguments. “The fact that assisting UNAMID is commendable does not excuse or justify those embargo violations,” he said in an e-mail on Friday. “Petronas must ensure that it is not drawn in or compelled in any way – directly or indirectly, frequently or occasionally – to breach the embargo by refuelling Sudanese military aircraft,” he said. “Petronas must arrange its business in a way that will avoid that possibility.”

Mike Lewis, a former member of the UN Panel of Experts, also disagreed with the Petronas explanation. “Supporting an international peacekeeping mission does not justify sustaining embargoed military equipment, just as supplying weapons to the peacekeepers could not be a justification for also supplying weapons to Darfur’s rebel groups,” he said.

He rejected the argument that the Petronas fuel supply to the UNAMID mission is irreplaceable. “It’s worth noting also that UNAMID have their own fuel distribution tankers for other kinds of fuel used by the mission.”

Canadian rights activists are calling for greater scrutiny of the human rights records of companies such as Petronas before they are allowed to invest in Canada.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister John Baird, asked whether the government is satisfied with the Petronas response, said: “The Minister has seen today’s statement, and has asked officials to follow-up on their response.” Earlier in the week, when asked about the alleged embargo violations by Petronas, the spokesman had said that “Canada expects that international sanctions, including those on Sudan, will be complied with.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who visited Malaysia earlier this month, said he views the Petronas investments in Canada “very positively” and is “very excited” by possible further Petronas investments.