Reply #26: Illinois Legislature votes to cut Sudan ties -- $1 Billion

[Adelante]

May. 20, 2005


Ill. Legislature votes to cut Sudan ties

MARY TALLON

Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois lawmakers have voted to have the state sell off about $1 billion worth of investments in companies doing business with Sudan, part of a nationwide campaign to protest genocide in the African nation.

If Gov. Rod Blagojevich signs the legislation, Illinois would become the first state in the nation to pull investments from companies with Sudanese ties. Similar legislation is pending elsewhere, and Harvard University also recently announced plans to stop Sudanese investments.

The Sudanese region of Darfur has been the site of an upheaval where about 180,000 people have died since fighting flared in February 2003. An estimated 2 million others have been forced to flee the region.

The conflict erupted when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. The government is accused of responding with wide-scale abuses against the African population.

-more-

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/11699994.htm