Dr Reeves' credibility as a commentator and researcher
has already been extensively questioned in 'The Return of
the 'Ugly American': Eric Reeves and Sudan'. (2) The credibility
of his claims about Sudan have been undermined further by
recent comments made by the United Nations
World Food Programme which is active in those very areas
of Sudan about which Mr Reeves makes his bold assertions.
Reeves claims to have approached Sudan "with the eyes of
a professional researcher", and to have engaged in "[l]ong
hours and days of assiduous reading, archival retrieval,
and real-time communications with Sudan experts in and out
of government" (3) From his comfortable office
several thousand miles away from Sudan, Reeves has seen
fit to repeatedly allege that civilians are being displaced
by government forces within Sudan's oil producing areas.
He has repeatedly claimed that this has taken place in and
around Bentiu - a key oil production centre some five hundred
miles south-west of Khartoum. On 12 February 2001, for example,
he claimed that there had been "ferocious new civilian destruction
and displacement" in the immediate vicinity of Bentiu. (4)
Reeves goes so far as to state that although he conveniently
cannot reveal the identity of his source for these claims,
he stated that he would
"fully stake all my reporting credibility on its veracity."
(5)
Reeves alleged "literal scorched-earth warfare...in all
directions from Bentiu". He claimed that villagers have
been forcibly displaced north of Bentiu, that east of Bentiu
"many civilians have been displaced" and that south of Bentiu
there has been "immense destruction" in pursuit of
forced displacements. (6) Sadly for Dr Reeves, his bluff
has been called. In this instance both
his "reporting credibility" and choice of "sources" can
be publicly measured against credible sources. By chance
two days after Reeves' claims of "ferocious displacement"
in and around Bentiu, Reuters spoke to the United Nations
World Food Programme, an organisation intimately
involved in the Bentiu area. In an article focusing on
the Sudanese oil project, Reuters stated that:
"A spokesman for the United Nations World Food Programme
(WFP), which operates around Bentiu, about 770 km (480)
miles southwest of Khartoum, where much of the drilling
is located, said the WFP was not aware of forced displacements."
(7)
The World Food Programme has been involved in Sudan for
several years, are very well established in southern Sudan
and have been active in areas in and around Bentiu for quite
some time.
It is perhaps worth noting that Dr Reeves speaks highly
of Reuters, calling it "the most reliable news agency in
Africa." (8)
It should also be pointed out that this is not the first
time that Dr Reeves' second or third-hand "reports" of massive
and continuing displacement in oil-producing areas has been
contradicted. Reeves has also claimed displacement in the
Heglig oil area. Western journalists who visited the Heglig
oil field found no such displacement. (9) Claudia Cattaneo,
of 'The Financial Post', a Canadian newspaper hostile to
the involvement of the Canadian Talisman oil company in
Sudan,
reported: "[A]t Heglig, the site of Talisman's oil major
oilfields and processing facilities, there is no evidence
of population displacement. Military presence is low key.
Children are playing and going to school near the oil wells.
Western and Sudanese workers say thousands of nomads are
coming here to look for work, for medical assistance...or
for education." (10)
It would appear from first-hand, credible reporting that
at the very least Eric Reeves' claims are questionable.
It would also appear that far from witnessing the systematic
displacement of civilians, southern civilians seem to be
being drawn towards the Heglig oil concession.
The contrast could not be any clearer. Dr Reeves has never
visited Sudan, and conducts his increasingly questionable
and discredited campaign from an ivory tower existence as
a professor of English literature at Smith College in Massachusetts
in the United States. He arrogantly claims to know more
about Sudan than those who are actually on the ground within
the country and observing at first hand on a day to day
basis the reality of events there.
It is for outside observers to assess whether Dr Reeves'
credibility as a commentator on Sudan is in tatters. He
staked "all" of his "reporting credibility" on the "veracity"
of anonymous claims of "ferocious displacement" around Bentiu.
Independent journalism by Reuters, described by Dr Reeves
as "the most reliable news agency in Africa", based on the
reports of the United Nations World Food Programme active
around Bentiu, reveal no such "forced displacements". Reeves'
self-proclaimed "professionalism" as a researcher rings
hollow. The gap between his selective and poorly-researched
assertions about Sudan and the truth is self-evident.
Notes:
1 'Investors Fuel Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan', 'The Catholic
New Times', Toronto, 31 October 1999.
2 'The Return of the "Ugly American": Eric Reeves and Sudan',
European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, November
2000.
3 Statement by Dr Eric Reeves before the U.S. Commission
on International Religious Freedom, Washington-DC, 15 February
2000 available at http://www.uscirf.gov/hearings/15feb00/professor_reeves.htm
4 Eric Reeves, 'Ferocious New Civilian Destruction and
Displacement', Freedom Now World News, 12 February 2001
at 15:46:10 -0800 (PST)
5 Eric Reeves, 'Ferocious New Civilian Destruction and
Displacement', Freedom Now World News,12 February 2001 at
15:46:10 -0800 (PST)
6 Eric Reeves, 'Ferocious New Civilian Destruction and
Displacement', Freedom Now World News,12 February 2001 at
15:46:10 -0800 (PST)
7 'Interview - Sudan Says Oil Drilling Causes No Mass Displacement'
New Article by Reuters on 14 February 2001 at 11:53:19 EST
8 Eric Reeves, 'Talisman Energy Share Price: What the Analysts
are Saying About the Sudan "Overhang". What the Khartoum
Regime is Saying to
the Oil Analysts!', 16 June 2000.
9 It should be stated that the Canadian media has been forthright
in their critical reporting on Canadian involvement within
the Sudanese oil project. Reeves, for example, has commented
that "[t]he enormity and complexity of human destruction
in Sudan becomes more visible in Canadian news reporting"
('Sudan Crisis Calls for U.S.-Canada Accord', 'The National
Post', 29 November 1999. 'The National Post' is a sister
paper of 'The Financial Post').
