The President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir faces warrants for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, and the
US has a powerful package of economic sanctions that it deploys against the Sudanese regime, which works in concert with an international arms embargo.
However, Britain has just seen fit to hold an "Opportunities in Sudan" networking event on Wednesday which brought a delegation including senior members of Mr Bashir's NCP party together with British counterparts including the UK ambassador to Sudan, Nicholas Kay. This comes after a visit by Henry Bellingham, the new minister for Africa, to Khartoum in July to boost trade and business ties. He told reporters there that Britain would be a "candid friend" to the regime in Sudan.
Representatives of major British oil, engineering, agriculture and banking companies who attended this week's event were told that Sudan was full of "untapped natural resources" and that there was "a lot of money to be made".
A brochure for the meeting and "networking reception" said Sudan is "endowed with rich natural resources, including oil, and has been emerging as a major oil producer". Those listed as attending on a document handed out at the event included mining companies, investment banks and security firms. Their representatives heard Mr Kay hail what he called "a new epoch" in relations between Britain and the regime responsible for massacres in Darfur.
The pursuit of such friendly ties leaves the Coalition partners open to accusations of hypocrisy. While in opposition the Tory party called Darfur the "world's worst humanitarian crisis" and senior officials including Mr Hague, the current Foreign Secretary, and Andrew Mitchell, now the International Development Secretary, backed the campaign to get UK companies to disinvest from Sudan. Some 2 million people have been killed in ethnic cleansing aided and abetted by the President and his ruling party..
The devastation in western Sudan prompted the ICC to add the charge of genocide to counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity brought against Mr Bashir in July. The oil industry has provided a lifeline for a regime in Khartoum that became an international pariah for its actions in the western region of Darfur. Oil accounts for half of all Sudan government revenues and more than 90 per cent of export earnings. While this has meant fabulous riches for the political elite, such as Mr Bashir's NCP party, and development in the capital, the total lack of investment in the regions has been one of the key sources of conflict in Sudan's bloody history since independence.
The Chinese energy giant PetroChina and several Swedish firms are currently under criminal investigation over alleged involvement in human rights abuses. "Entering Sudan's oil business comes with a host of risks attached," warned Gavin Hayman, from resources watchdog Global Witness. "For the average citizen in Sudan oil has been a source of long and bloody conflict rather than a source of development. Companies have a duty not to just pour money into an opaque government. Oil will either be the key to peace in Sudan or the cause of another war."
