Le Monde: Sixty European banks suspected of influencing tensions in South Sudan

A man from South Sudan displays new currency notes outside the Central Bank of South Sudan in Juba, on July 18, 2011 (Reuters)

Sixty European banks, insurance companies and investment firms have directly or indirectly financed two international oil groups implicated in violence in South Sudan, the non-governmental organization Global Witness, which specializes in the impact of natural resource exploitation on the environment and human rights, has claimed.

Among the names singled out in the report published on Tuesday, November 14, are those of German groups Deutsche Bank and Allianz, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo, the Netherlands' Aegon and ING, and France's BNP Paribas, BPCE, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel CIC and Société Générale.

The NGO has identified more than €700 million in direct or indirect shareholdings by these European financial institutions in the oil group China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), the Malaysian company Petronas, and their listed subsidiaries, as well as €4 billion in loans and commissions received from bond issues by the two companies.

Financing the purchase of weapons

Global Witness has accused CNPC and Petronas of encouraging intermittent violence in South Sudan, which has been independent since 2011 and, since 2013, has been in the grip of a civil war that has led, according to the United Nations, to the deaths of several hundred thousand people and the displacement of around 4 million people^[1].

Petronas is a shareholder in South Sudan's three major crude oil producers, Dar Petroleum Operating Company (DPOC), Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) and Sudd Petroleum Operating Company. Although the Malaysian oil company announced in December 2022 that it would sell its interests to the UK's Savannah Energy, the sale has not yet taken place, and the Chinese company CNPC still has a stake in DPOC and GPOC. Since 2018, Sudan's three oil companies have been on the list of entities that the United States deemed likely to pose a threat to national security.

At the time, the US Commerce Department concluded that these companies represented a significant source of revenue "to fund the purchase of weapons and other material that undermine the peace, security and stability" of South Sudan.

Putting pressure on European leaders

Global Witness hopes that the financial groups cited will be able to change the way they do business, but also intends to put pressure on European politicians who are debating the inclusion of the financial sector within the scope of the CSDD directive on corporate sustainability due diligence.

BPCE denied that they are financing the companies in a reply to Global Witness. CIC said it has had no business relationship with Petronas since 2019 and stated that it never participated in financing activities in South Sudan, while Crédit Agricole said it has not financed Petronas "for several years." BNP Paribas and Société Générale made no comment on their relations with specific companies, but the former explained that Petronas is concerned by its strategy of exiting from fossil fuels, in other words: the bank could exclude the oil group from its investments. BNP said it applies "a strict framework to the management of environmental and social risks."

References

1. ^{^} around 4 million people (www.lemonde.fr)