Swedish Foreign Minister Haunted by War Crimes Allegations

Swedish Foreign Minister Haunted by
War Crimes Allegations

26 October, 2011 | By Aron Lamm (Epoch Times)
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Detained Swedish reporters in Ethiopia highlight thorny
affair

The arrest of two

Swedish journalists in

Ethiopia has put allegedly

unethical, or even criminal

activities by oil companies

in the spotlight. It has also

further complicated an

ongoing debate about

Swedish Foreign Minister

Carl Bildt's previous

involvement in the oil industry in Africa, and whether or not he
should be investigated for complicity in crimes against humanity.

On July 1, two Swedish freelance journalists traveling with rebel
forces in the restive Ogaden area were arrested during a firefight
with Ethiopian government forces. Working on a story for
renowned magazine, Filter, 29-year-old photographer Johan
Persson and 30-year-old reporter Martin Schibbye were slightly
injured and taken into custody. Their troubles, however, had only
just begun.

Residents of the Ogaden area, originally part of Somalia, have
fought for independence from Ethiopia since the late ’70s. Today,
the area is off limits to foreigners, and the Swedes were in the area
illegally. The Ethiopian government has accused them of colluding
with the rebels and they are currently on trial in the capital, Addis
Ababa.

Schibbye and Persson have pleaded guilty to illegal entry into
Ethiopia, but deny any involvement in the conflict. Since the
Ogaden separatist group ONLF is considered a terrorist
organization by the Ethiopian government, the Swedes are now to
stand trial for terrorism, and are faced with the prospect of
decades in an Ethiopian prison.

Bildt’s oil interests

The events have also added fuel to the debate over Swedish
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt's involvement in oil company Lundin
Petroleum. Between 2000 and 2006, Bildt was a member of the
Lundin Board of Directors and, during that time, the company
may have been involved in crimes against humanity and war
crimes, according to a report from ECOS (European Coalition on
Oil in Sudan).

Between 1997 and 2003 Lundin Petroleum was active in the area,
now recognized as South Sudan but which was then torn apart by
civil war between the central government in Khartoum and rebel
forces. During this period, the government used similar genocidal
tactics to those used in the Darfur area, driving the population
away in order to secure oil resources. These they then exploited
together with Lundin.

According to the report "Unpaid Debt," some 12,000 civilians
were killed and up to 200,000 displaced by attacks from
horseback militia and regular forces. Other atrocities such as rape,
pillage, arson, enslavement, torture, and forced underage
recruitment also took place.

Lundin and other international oil companies should have been
well aware of the situation, but they continued to work with the
government and even provided access to a strategic road and
bridge that may have helped government forces carry out their
attacks against civilians. In this way, they may be complicit in war
crimes and crimes against humanity, the report concludes. It also
states that the companies involved should be investigated, and that
they should contribute to the estimated $300 million in damages to
the many victims of these crimes.

Bildt has denied any knowledge of the atrocities, and said in an
interview in Veckans Affarer magazine in February 2011, that the
ECOS report exaggerated the number of people in the area by a
factor of two or three. A Swedish criminal investigation was
launched in June 2010 as a result of the ECOS report, but Bildt
was not among the people recently called to the first round of
questionings.

Clash of interests

Bildt, who is also a former prime minister of Sweden, has had to
deal with war crimes in his earlier work as a EU representative
and U.N. special representative in the Balkans, making the
allegations against him especially embarrassing.

With the case of the two detained journalists, however, a new
layer has been added to the affair. The journalists, it turned out,
were going to Ogaden to investigate Lundin Petroleum and its
subsidiaries' business there, and could therefore potentially have
unearthed information that would be damaging to Bildt.

Bildt has shaken off this potential clash of interest in his typically
confident manner, arguing that Lundin itself had no business in
Ethiopia during his time with the company and ignoring calls for his
resignation among the opposition. But as long as the media
spotlight is on the detained reporters and the investigation against
Lundin is ongoing, it seems likely that the story will continue to
haunt him and the conservative Swedish government.

The trial against Persson and Schibbye opened on Oct. 18 and
was adjourned on Oct. 20. It will resume on Nov. 1, and may
take several months. If convicted of terrorism, the Swedes may
face up to 40 years in prison. Bildt has said that if they are indeed
convicted and sentenced to long prison terms, the Swedish
government will ask the Ethiopian government, which receives
substantial foreign aid from Sweden, for a pardon.

Courtesy