The Canadian oil company Talisman Energy is set to face charges of "complicity in genocide and war crimes" in a US court due to its past engagements in southern Sudan. The Presbyterian Church of Sudan is challenging the company, claiming its operations had fuelled an "oil war" in the region that victimised "hundreds of thousands" of people. Talisman Energy, a Canadian oil company, "must face charges of complicity in genocide and war crimes in a federal District Court in New York," according to a statement released today by the US law firm of Berger & Montague, representing the alleged victims in southern Sudan. The complaint, filed by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan and others alleged "victims of the oil war in southern Sudan" claim that Talisman, in an "unholy alliance with the Islamic government of Sudan, committed genocide and war crimes in connection with the exploration and extraction of oil in southern Sudan." The plaintiffs seek disgorgement of Talisman's revenues from its Sudan operations as "compensation for hundreds of thousands of victims forced to flee their homes and left in despair without food, water, shelter, or medical care as a result of the strategic plan by Talisman and the government of Sudan to use helicopter gunships and high altitude bombing to depopulate areas around the oil fields," the US law firm says. [more
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