Civil society readies evidence to pin Swedish Oil Company over human rights violations
A civil society group has conducted workshop in Bentiu town of Unity State aimed at compiling human rights violations perpetrated decades ago by Swedish oil company Lundin Energy.
Lundin Sudan Limited is the Swedish company which was the operator of the consortium granted the rights to develop Block 5A, largely located south of Bentiu in the swampy, marshy, and meandering flat landscape on the West Bank of the White Nile in Western Upper Nile/Unity State.
The consortium consisted of Lundin Petroleum AB (Sweden), OMV (Sudan) Exploration gmbH (Austria), Petronas Carigali SDN BHD (Malaysia), and Sudapet (Sudan).
The concession was granted in 1996, operations on the ground started in late 1997, and within months fighting broke out in the key Nuer towns of the block, culminating in a May 1999 attack on the first well Lundin drilled.
The attack was carried out by Riek Machar’s SSDF forces, who executed three government employees there. Lundin evacuated the one hundred workers at the site the same day and did not recommence oil operations for eighteen months, until late 2000, after the government and its militia had attacked, burned out, and displaced many thousands of Nuer living there.
Civil Society Coalition on Natural Resources in collaboration with Assistance Mission for Africa (AMA) held dialogue on Wednesday attended by traditional chiefs, women, and youth, and members of transitional legislative assembly to update them about the court case filed against Lundin Sudan Limited by the community.
The case is set to be heard in September this year that will see the affected Nuer community compensated for the violations that included killings and displacements in the oil field in Block 5.
Gizam Moses Mario, a member of Civil Society Coalition on Natural Resources, said 85 civil society organizations have participated in the Lundin company trial and have the records of atrocities committed by Lundin Company from 1999 to 2003.
“We are making awareness before the Lundin trial which will take place in September 2023 in Norway,” he told Juba Echo.
He said this is the fourth time they are conducting awareness on human rights violations committed under the watch of Lundin Energy.
“Yes, we have evidence that Lundin Energy committed atrocities in Tharjiar, Mirmir Payam of Koch, Kuergeng Jikany community in Bentiu and the unity oilfield of the Leek community,” Mario said.
On 11 January 2023, the Stockholm District Court announced that the trial against Ian Lundin, Chairman of Lundin Energy, and Alex Schneiter, Lundin’s former CEO, will begin on 5 September 2023.
The defence consequently filed complaints arguing that the indictment against the men was too vague to be actionable.
