Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. conducts oil drilling in the Sudan, among other areas in the world. Church and social-justice advocates have repeatedly called upon Talisman to pull out of the Sudan, saying that oil revenues are fuelling the aggressive tactics of the National Islamic Front government. It said that the current civil war, which began in 1983, has killed two million people and displaced more than four million in Africa's largest country. The group was denied permission by the Sudanese government to visit the capital of Khartoum, but was invited by the Sudan and New Sudan Councils of Churches to travel to the south and visit refugee camps and communities affected by the conflict. Sudan's government is waging war against rebels in the south who follow Christian or animist religions.
Animism is the belief that plants, inanimate objects and natural phenomena have living souls.
We listened to accounts of slaughter and burnings from people who had fled for their lives days earlier. Mrs. Finlay said that in one village, a group of about 30 people, representing four villages, told of random attacks from helicopters, foot soldiers and tanks. When we asked how many were dead, the chiefs began to name them and as they did this, they would pick up little sticks or nuts from the ground nearby, name the individual and set them down on the ground. Rev. William Phipps, former moderator of the United Church of Canada and Bishop Donald Theriault, representing the Catholic Conference of Bishops. The group first traveled to Nairobi before going to the Sudan.