Between 1994 and 2006, the Swedish Government comprised the Social Democrats who were running a minority government with confidence and support from the Green Party (Miljöpartiet) and the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet); collectively known as the Red-Greens (in Swedish, “De Rödgröna”). The Red-Greens were the Government during the entire period of the Company’s involvement in Block 5A from 1997 to 2003.

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In the 2006 election, the Red-Greens lost their majority to the Centre-Right Alliance Coalition, who appointed Carl Bildt as Foreign Minister. Carl Bildt had been a Board member of the Company since 2000 but had resigned from this role in 2006 following his appointment as minister and sold his shareholding in the Company.

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At this point, certain Red-Green politicians began a campaign against the Company, publicly accusing it of complicity in international crimes in Sudan. This appeared to be a means by which to attack Carl Bildt and thus the Centre-Right Alliance Coalition, notwithstanding his active and well-documented peace advocacy efforts in Sudan and his high reputation as a former Prime Minister and UN Secretary General Special Envoy to the Balkans. The Social Democrat Members of Parliament Morgan Johansson and Peter Hultqvist were the most vocal in this attack.

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Despite Carl Bildt's clear testimony and Morgan Johansson's own party's support for constructive engagement at the time the Company was operating in Sudan, Johansson – who was serving as a member of the Committee – maintained his deeply critical stance stating that: “Carl Bildt should understand that it is not appropriate for a Foreign Minister to have financial interests in a company like Lundin Petroleum, which has received widespread criticism from human rights organizations for its operations in Sudan [regarding] involvement in displacement of peoples.”

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Morgan Johansson went on to make the defamatory statement that it was a “company with an extremely bad reputation when it comes to human rights. In Sudan, the company is linked to displacement and attacks on the civilian population.”

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In 2008, Peter Hultqvist wrote an inflammatory article entitled “Bildt’s Oil Connections are Financing Genocide” (“Bildts oljekontakter finansierar folkmord”). Not only did Hultqvist condemn profits from oil operations as “blood money” that “finances war, abuse and devastation”, but he also alleged that Carl Bildt’s interest in the Company and contact with President Bashir directly damaged the credibility of Swedish foreign policy. All these statements contradicted the previous Swedish Government policies (led by Hultqvist's own party) encouraging constructive engagement in Sudan and failed to take into account that the Company did not, at any stage, make any revenue from oil extraction during its time in the country.

 

With the publication of ECOS’s “Unpaid Debt” report in June 2010, the Social Democrats and the Left Party continued to raise the matter in Parliament, stating that the Company should fulfil “its obligations under the [2005] CPA and pay reasonable compensation to the victims of the war in Block 5A.” These allegations were made three months before the 19 September 2010 general election in Sweden.

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Notwithstanding a number of attempts to discredit Carl Bildt by linking him to allegations made against the Company, the Centre-Right Alliance coalition won the 2010 election, although no longer with an outright majority. Certain Red-Green politicians continued the campaign against the Company.

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The next general election took place in 2014, which the Social Democrats won by a small margin. They have been ruling in a minority coalition ever since. Morgan Johannson became (and remains) the Minister of Justice and Peter Hultqvist became (and remains) the Minister of Defence.

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In the absence of independent evidence or an inquiry, the willingness of prominent politicians – notwithstanding their own party's position when in government and in the face of comprehensive and detailed refutation by the Company - to make serious allegations against the Company and indirectly Carl Bildt, has been a disturbing aspect of the political backdrop to this case.