Darfur genocide linked to state pensions

Polly Ross Hughes
Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — State pension funds would be required to divest holdings in companies fueling ongoing genocide in Sudan's Darfur region under bipartisan legislation lawmakers plan to unveil today.
The "Stop the Darfur Genocide Act," filed by Democratic Sen. Rodney Ellis and Republican Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, both of Houston, claims broad-based support, uniting liberal advocates with social conservatives.

"It's such a compelling case that's killed more than 400,000 people and displaced 2.5 million," Ellis said Tuesday of the four-year-old strife, which the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

"The U.S. government has declared these ongoing atrocities to be genocide," Ellis said. "One would be hard-pressed not to understand the moral implications of being on the wrong side of calling for divestment." Read more >>>