In a parliamentary debate on Darfur, Tuesday 5 June, shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague backed calls for targeted UK divestment from companies operating in Sudan whose investment enables the government to continue atrocities in the troubled region. Speaking to the house Mr Hague said, 'We believe that the time has come for the UK to make a formal policy of encouraging companies with financial ties with the Sudanese Government, or government-related projects, to reconsider those links'.

Michael Moore, shadow Foreign Secretary for the Liberal Democrats, added, 'we must surely look at international investment in Sudan's petreoleum industry. Of course, restrictions on investment, let alone divestment, raise difficulties. It is an approach only to be considered in extremis, but surely that is the situation that we have reached in Sudan.'

An Early Day Motion in April supporting the call for divestment was tabled in April and gathered cross-party support. The speeches by Mr Hague and Mr Moore show the increasing backing for the economic pressure that targeted divestment would place on the Sudanese government to end the violence.