PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
OIL AND THE CIVIL WAR IN SUDAN (11 February 2000)

That this House notes with grave concern that the UK-based Weir Pumps Ltd and other European companies have built and continue to invest in the recently completed oil installations and an oil pipeline in Sudan, running for 1,600 km from Bentiu, Upper West Nile to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, with exports since 30th August 1999 of 150,000 barrels a day and estimated potential revenue of $200 million to $500 million a year; notes that this development threatens to perpetuate the Sudanese war and undermine the fragile peace process; notes the evidence that this exacerbates human rights violations and further frustrates any efforts for long-term development; believes that as a military target the pipeline and installations pose a serious environmental threat to the country; calls on Her Majesty's Government to refuse any export licences to Sudan, to encourage the international community to put pressure on the warring parties in order that they extend and monitor the cease-fire in all regions, in particular around the oil fields, and to make representations to the international community calling on it to cease the extraction of oil in Sudan until a peaceful resolution to the conflict has been reached.

Sponsored by:
Mr Andrew Rowe (Conservative)