SOCO International plc – An Apology

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The Ecologist has apologised to SOCO International following an article we published based on a report by Global Witness about the company's operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 

On 10th September 2014 we published an article entitled 'Congo: Africa's oldest National Park under violent attack by UK oil company' based on a report published by Global Witness.

The article contained a number of serious allegations directed against the UK based oil company SOCO International plc (SOCO) and its operations in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo including suggestions that SOCO were guilty of serious criminal acts and ethical breaches. We accept we had no basis to make the allegations in the manner that we did.

Further, we failed to approach SOCO for comment prior to publication. We recognise that we should have contacted SOCO prior to publication to give them the opportunity to respond to the criticisms that were made in the report and in our article. We accept that we failed to properly represent their point of view.

Unfortunately we failed to approach SOCO for comment prior to publication. We recognise that we should have contacted SOCO prior to publication to give them the opportunity to respond to the criticisms that were made in the report and in our article. We accept that we failed to properly represent their point of view.

In particular we should have stated SOCO's position that it operates under a strict and rigorous Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and that it works tirelessly to ensure that is fully implemented in all operational regions.

In the circumstances, we have permanently removed the article from our website and undertaken not to republish it in any version. We have also offered our sincere apologies to SOCO.

The Ecologist.

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