The University of California's Board of Regents voted yesterday to divest tens of millions of dollars of holdings in companies that do business in the war-torn African country of Sudan. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has the story.
The United Nations has called the Sudanese government's campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arabs "crimes against humanity." President Bush has called it genocide. Adam Sterling is co-chair of the UC Sudan Divestment Task Force. He says a targeted UC divestment of nine energy, telecommunications, and oil companies operating in Sudan will send a powerful message.
Sterling: "We are witnessing a genocide that's ongoing and we have the power to stop it and economic pressure has been the most effective tool and the UC, which is owned by the people of the state of California, has a historic opportunity to use the sharpest tool they have available to incur change in Sudan."
Private universities like Stanford, Harvard, and Yale have already restricted investments in Sudan. Beth Ford Roth, KPBS news.
