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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Lauren Rooney |
State Rep. Thomas Blackwell |
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Blackwell introduces bill banning state from financial
transactions with the Republic of Sudan
HARRISBURG, March 30 – State Rep. Tommy Blackwell, D-Phila., said that it is time for Pennsylvania to take a stand against the ethnic cleansing and genocide occurring in the Republic of Sudan.
To that end, Blackwell has introduced legislation (H.B. 729) that would prohibit any agency or fund that invests state money from investing in companies in, or any who do business with, the Republic of Sudan. Some examples of such agencies would include the Public School Employees’ Retirement System, State Employees Retirement System and the State Workers Insurance Fund.
Blackwell noted that since February 2003, government-financed militias have been systematically terrorizing residents of the Darfur region in western Sudan, resulting in as many as 400,000 deaths and more than 2 million refugees.
“These government henchmen are destroying villages, killing men, raping women and starving children as they confiscate food supplies and block international assistance,” Blackwell said. “We should not let any of our money make it into the pockets of the government-financed militias.”
Blackwell’s legislation currently has 31 bipartisan cosponsors.
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