Carey R. D'Avino, PC
1251 Avenue of the Americas, 42nd Floor
New York, NY 10020-1182
Press Release
For Immediate Release
New York - February 25, 2002, human rights attorneys Carey R. D'Avino and
Stephen A. Whinston of Berger & Montague, PC, announced the filing of an
amended complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern
District of New York against Talisman Energy Inc., adding the Islamic
Government of Sudan as a co-defendant. The complaint alleges that Talisman
and the government are violating the human rights of Christian and other
non-Muslim minorities in Southern Sudan by conducting a deliberate campaign
of ethnic cleansing to clear the land for oil exploitation.
"Talisman Energy finances and directs the Government of Sudan's ethnic
cleansing campaign and must be stopped before all of our villages are
destroyed and all of the people are killed," charges Taban Deng, the former
Governor of Unity State in Southern Sudan, who is advising plaintiffs'
counsel.
More than 25,000 Christian and other non-Muslim Sudanese refugees now live in
the United States. "We are demanding justice for the non-Muslim people of
Southern Sudan," explains Dak Thong, President of the Nuer Community
Development Services in USA, one of the lead plaintiffs.
In 1997 Sudan was classified by the US Government as a state sponsor of
international terrorism. On October 31, 2001, President Bush extended
sanctions against Sudan declaring "the actions and policies of the Government
of Sudan continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national
security and foreign policy of the US." The United States State Department
announced on February 21, 2002 that it was suspending its efforts to mediate
peace in Sudan because of the Geovernment of Sudan's recent helicopter
gunship attack on a United Nations food distribution center which killed 26
civilians, most of them women and children.
The complaint alleges that Talisman and the Government of Sudan are deploying
military force against the non-Muslim civilian population in aneffort to
create a "cordon sanitare" around the oil concessions.
The complaint seeks damages and injunctive relief on behalf of all non-Muslim
Sudanese refugees and internally displaced persons.
Contact: Carey R. D'Avino (212) 278-1382
Stephen A. Whinston (215) 875-3097