Two Northern Virginia legislators want Virginia’s retirement system to stop investing in companies that do business in war-ravaged Sudan.
Legislation fielded by Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, and Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites, R-Vienna, would direct the Virginia Retirement System to divest its holdings of eight Asian oil companies that operate in the African country. The VRS oversees the investment accounts that fund the state’s retirement plans for police, teachers and other public employees.
The bill won Senate approval last month and remains under consideration in the House Appropriations Committee.
“Here we have an opportunity to do something about the genocide while it’s going on,” Cuccinelli said. “While Virginia doesn’t have a foreign policy, this little bit we can do.”
The bill would affect only a fraction of VRS’ 3,000-plus investments, Cuccinelli said. He also said that Virginia is one of 25 states considering such legislation this year.
Sudan’s raging civil war between the government and rebels in the country’s Darfur region has left 400,000 dead and 4 million displaced and starving. International human-rights groups have accused the Sudanese government of committing genocide against Darfur’s residents and have pressured other countries and businesses to stop supporting the Sudanese government.
American companies have been forbidden to conduct business in Sudan since1997.
“I don’t think that we can afford to, as Americans or as Virginians, to stand by and see these atrocities continue to happen, and yet at the same time benefit in some form,” said Del. Onzlee Ware, R-Roanoke, a cosponsor of the bill.
Gayland Hethcoat of City News Service contributed to this report.
