Money vs. Morals: A Look at Talisman's Legacy in Sudan

Feb 22, 2015 | Kyle Balx, CBC News
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According to a high-level report by Canadian diplomat John Harker in February 2000, oil royalties flowing to the Sudanese government from a Talisman Energy-run oil play were found to be exacerbating the country's civil war. That report forced Canada's foreign affairs department to jump into action. The government wanted Talisman Energy to make sure it was not complicit in the human rights abuses happening in Sudan. According to several other reports, Talisman Energy's development project in Sudan "provided a new source of hard currency for a regime that has been responsible for massive human-rights abuses and sponsoring terrorism outside Sudan." While oil operations in Sudan prolonged the country's violence, Talisman's exit may have caused more harm than good.