A consortium led by Swedish Lundin Petroleum is partly to blame for war crimes committed in Sudan between 1997 and 2003 in an oil concession area called Block 5A in the south.
European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS), an umbrella group of European organisations working for peace and justice in Sudan, said yesterday in a report it believed Lundin might have been aware of the war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan.The report explained that the start of oil exploitation set off a vicious war in the area between the Sudan Armed forces and SPLM to secure the place.
Thousands were killed, hundreds of thousands displaced and houses, food and cattle destroyed to clear the way for oil extraction.
The report charged that the Swedish, Austrian and Malaysian governments failed in their international obligations to prevent human rights violations and international crimes.
ECOS called on those countries to investigate whether the consortium members knew or should have known that their activities assisted those who were responsible for gross human rights abuses.