Many Sudanese, Sudan friends, Baroness Cox, human rights sisterly organizations attended the demonstration. Because of the financial limitations, only two members managed to attend the lecture and represent the Sudanese voice inside the conference.

The president tried unsuccessfully to speak of his company’s constructive engagement role and the corporate responsibility in action. He was criticized by our representative Dr Mansour Elajab and other British participants on the failure of his company and other oil companies in fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities in number of areas summarized as follows:

0. Talisman is doing business with a regime whose alarming human rights record is condemned by international community and as such is giving credibility to that regime.
1. The failure in generating wealth benefiting the entire community under a monolithic partisan regime that is aggressively monopolizing the political and economical power and where income distribution is consequently very inequitable.
2. The exclusionist and corrupt nature of the regime where all the benefits are accrued by the members of the NIF.
3. The share of the country in oil revenue is only 5% while the oil companies take 95%. This points to the serious depletion of the country’s actual and potential economic supply.
4. Most of the GOS revenue goes to the war expenditure.
5. Local community is not benefiting because of the forced displacement and the few facilities constructed are not accessible to the local people.
6. The internally displaced (over 4 million) because of the war, are forced to live under extremely difficult conditions. In every eight refugees in the world, one is Sudanese.
7. The environment has been seriously affected. Clearance of the trees has affected the natural habitat. Air and water pollution threatens the human beings and marine life.
8. In terms of local employment, there is very little impact and it is mainly foreign.
9. The principle of constructive engagement to resolve conflict is not met as all parties to the conflict are not involved.
10. GOS is using forced conscription and under age soldiers who are trained at a military camp near Heglig.
11. The oil companies are providing the GOS with the needed infrastructure and airstrip for the scorched earth policy.