U.S. and European Media

September 13, 2023

Sudan Tribune: US Special Envoy to Sudan criticized over Save Darfur statements. The Save Darfur coalition said today that they have no intention of easing their campaign aimed at pressuring world governments to end the Darfur crisis. Larry Rossin, a board member of the Save Darfur Coalition and a former U.N. official told Sudan Tribune that “pressure by civil society is just as important as diplomatic pressure by officials such as Natsios in bringing peace to Darfur”. Rossin was responding to statements made by the US presidential envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios to the Boston Herald in which he said that efforts by Darfur activists such as Save Darfur coalition were “more useful eight to 12 months ago” but are now outdated. Natsios also suggested that the campaign by Darfur activists saying it may hurt behind the scenes diplomatic efforts that are finally bearing fruit. However Rossin said he is not sure how work by Save Darfur coalition could have a negative impact on diplomatic efforts underway. “If we were to lift pressure many parties may lose interest in the Darfur crisis as a result of fading world attention” he added. Eric Reeves, an American academic and long time expert on Sudan condemned Natsios’s remarks in unusually strong terms describing him as “an arrogant fool, evidently intent on blaming advocacy groups for the failure of the Bush administration to make policy sense of its genocide determination”. “It is not the advocates that are making peace more difficult: it’s the attitude of appeasement and accommodation represented by Natsios that is the real obstacle to peace." he added.

Deutsche Presse Agentur: SA pushes for UN-AU troops on ground in Darfur. South Africa is using its seat on the United Nations Security Council to push for troops from a hybrid UN/African Union peacekeeping force to be on the ground in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur by next month.South Africa will use its position at the UN to "insist" on some troops from the force -- to be known as Unamid -- being deployed by October, ambassador George Nene, permanent representative to the office of the UN, said in Pretoria. "As it can sometimes take anything between six and 12 months for a UN peacekeeping force to deploy ... we are happy that there is already progress in the preparations for the deployment," he said. The so-called hybrid force, which will be composed mainly of African troops, is scheduled for deployment in the war-torn Sudanese region by the end of the year. "South Africa has a positive attitude toward contributing troops to the hybrid force," Nene said.

Associated Press: PetroChina Co. shares fall after Buffett cuts stake. Shares of PetroChina Co. fell as much as 2.1 per cent in morning trading in Hong Kong a day on news that billionaire investor Warren Buffett further reduced his company's stake in China's biggest oil and gas producer. PetroChina shares at midday were down 22 cents, or 1.9 per cent, at HK$11.14 ($1.47). Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold 92.66 million shares of a China-based company listed in Hong Kong – at an average price of HK$11.473 each on Aug. 29, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. The sale brought Berkshire Hathaway's holding in PetroChina's issued share capital to 9.72 per cent, down from 10.16 per cent. Despite the sale, Berkshire Hathaway remains PetroChina's second-largest shareholder, after the company's unlisted state-owned parent, China National Petroleum Corp. CNPC owns 88.2 per cent of PetroChina, according to its 2006 annual report. Berkshire Hathaway's 9.72-per cent holding in the Petrochina's share capital gives it just a 1.13 per cent stake in the company. CNPC, which signed a 20-year oil deal with Sudan in June, is also facing international pressure to reduce its involvement in Sudan. Opponents say Chinese investments are helping Sudanese leaders resist pressure over Darfur. The latest announcement is the second public disclosure of a sell-down in PetroChina shares by Berkshire Hathaway in two months.

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