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286 thE sudan handbook

China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Malaysia’s Petronas,

and the Canadian company Talisman. There was a correlation between

forced civilian displacement, fighting, and the expansion of oil field

activity. Oil infrastructure, like airstrips or all-weather roads, also served

military purposes. The GoS terrorized civilian populations in the oil

regions through proxy militias, Antonov bombers, helicopter gunships

and arms imported from outside. The surge in revenue from oil exports

after 1999 saw an increase in military spending and the development of a

military–industrial arms manufacturing complex in northern Sudan, built

with the assistance of foreign experts, including many from China.

Campaigning on oil gathered momentum in the late 1990s as human

rights, religious and anti-slavery NGOs drew attention to the links

between oil development and war. High-profile divestment campaigns

were directed towards Western oil companies, notably Talisman, which

tried fighting a public relations war of its own. Its CEO claimed that the

company was good for Sudan, but it eventually retreated. The unintended

result, however, was to open up Sudan to the overseas branch of India’s

national Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, ONGC Videsh, whose

employees ceremonially raised the Indian flag in the GNPOC camp in

Heglig on 18 May 2003. Like its Chinese and Malaysian counterparts,

ONGC has proved to be largely impervious to divestment advocacy.

Khartoum looks East

Following Chevron’s exit in 1992, Sudan’s oil sector became dominated by

Chinese, Malaysian and later Indian national oil companies. The Chinese

oil engagement was particularly significant for the NIF. Strategic necessity

and international political isolation compelled President Omar al-Bashir

to request Chinese assistance with oil development in 1995. Relations

were based on pragmatic necessity but became mutually beneficial for the

both parties. China proved a willing alternative partner for Khartoum,

and Sudan became a notable overseas success for China’s fledgling oil

sector. CNPC and other Chinese companies made a substantial contribu-

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors tion towards building Sudan’s oil export industry amidst war. Khartoum

(www.riftvalley.net).