U.S. terrorism sanctions have kept American companies out of Sudan since 1997, except for sales of humanitarian goods. No other government has imposed curbs. Plenty of big European blue chips that are mainstays of global portfolios, such as Germany's Siemens (SI ) and Alcatel (ALA ) of France, have ties to Sudan. A Siemens spokesman says the company has "very limited business, mainly focused on infrastructure and medical products."

Europe, despite apparently tough talk in some quarters, is still far from prepared to jeopardize its own economic interests. Germany is a case in point. German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul was reported over a year ago (September 13, 2004) as saying she "favours tough sanctions against Sudan." The German minister said that contradictory promises from the Sudanese leadership had not help improve security in Sudan's troubled Darfur region where Arab militias are accused of carrying out a campaign of genocide. Wieczorek-Zeul recommended an arms and oil embargo along with the freezing of Sudan's assets. (Deutsche Welle, September 13, 2004) But notably, Wieczorek-Zeul says nothing about the German commercial presence in Khartoum, of the sort emblematized by giant Siemens AG: it is this presence that does so much to sustain the National Islamic Front and convince the regime that ultimately petrodollars speak louder than the cries of death and suffering in Darfur.

Were a respected international company such as Siemens to withdraw from Sudan in protest of the genocide, it would set an important precedent. Put simply, the Sudanese government will not stop the genocide as long as Western companies continue to help underwrite Sudan's economic growth.