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Last month, Peter Kinder, a leading player in the United States' "socially responsible investments" community, called for a complete investment boycott of all firms operating in Sudan. Presumably this would include British Airways and Lufthansa who fly there and Nokia and Motorola whose mobile telephones are widely available in the country. The justification for his new campaign, familiar enough to Talisman investors in Canada and the U.S., is that firms operating in Sudan are complicit in the pain and suffering of Darfur. Many believe the dire situation in Darfur is being exacerbated by elements in the new national government. Indeed, in common with some of the more lurid commentary emerging from the U.S., people like Mr. Kinder argue that the "genocide" in Sudan is an even more compelling reason for divestment in that troubled country than was the case in apartheid South Africa, and that the tentative peace agreement signed by the government on Friday is no guarantee that the killing will stop.

These people may be right about the last point, but even if peace does not break out in Darfur, that is no reason for the kind of disinvestment Mr. Kinder is calling for.

As the president of KLD Research, the longest established and most influential social investment firm in the U.S., we can expect his advice to have an impact. We live in a world where opinion about corporate performance - ethical or economic - is socially constructed.

Commentators and agenda drivers of all stripes drive stock prices every bit as much as more rational or disinterested analysts. And, of course, influencing markets is as attractive to social activists as it is to some of the racier hedge funds. If Mr. Kinder says it is wrong to invest in Sudan, that statement will have an impact on the stock prices of firms who stay there, regardless of whether those firms are engaging progressively or not. This self-fulfilling prophecy will, in turn, reinforce Mr. Kinder's reputation for ethical stock-picking and his social index will continue to thrive. That is the nature of calls for divestment on ethical grounds.

I do not know if Peter Kinder has been in Sudan recently, but I have just returned from Khartoum where I have been working with an independent university, representatives of international institutions, and a variety of official and civil society institutions committed to building private enterprise options for the poor in southern Sudan and Darfur. From my four trips to Sudan in the last 18 months, I have reached three conclusions:

First, micro-enterprises and small- to medium-sized enterprises need access to finance and training and they need it now.

A few days ago, I was with a senior Sudanese government official who commands the respect of the international development community and the new national government. This hybrid government was formed only last year after the signing of a peace agreement between northern and southern forces who had waged war for two decades. This invariably upbeat and humorous man was celebrating the securing of 10 tractors - a minor breakthrough in what has been a virtual stalemate in creating livelihood for Sudan's poor, something that was supposed to happen after the peace agreement with the South. But the man was clearly showing signs of the enormous strain his demobilization and re-integration process is under. Just how far will 10 tractors go?

Second, the huge number of ex-combatants and other fighters need to have their weapons replaced by alternative sources of income. If the alternatives do not emerge very fast there is a strong likelihood that significant numbers of these fighters will be added to the existing ranks of bandits, rapists and other criminals, terrorizing women and other vulnerable groups on an indiscriminate and ongoing basis. As one senior Western diplomat said to me this week, "We urgently have to send a signal that taking up arms is not the only way to attract attention and secure economic gain."

Finally, we need progressive corporations to engage with Sudan, not to disinvest, to help create economic opportunities for smaller firms and informal enterprises that will employ the millions who need work.

Happily, it is possible to identify progressive firms to partner with in Sudan. One leading business person who is trusted by northern and southern politicians - a no-nonsense, socially responsible entrepreneur - told me he is ready to help open up the south of Sudan for pro-poor business. He is already putting millions of dollars of his own money where his mouth is. I also met a senior politician with responsibility for the oil industry who told me that now is the time for Western oil companies to come to Sudan and drive an environmentally and socially sustainable strategy for the sector. Make no mistake, oil is being developed, revenues are flowing and the choice for Sudan is not whether to develop it, but how and with whom.

So Mr. Kinder and his colleagues have to explain exactly why they believe it is better for Sudan to develop its oil industry with Chinese, Indian and Malaysian investments alone. He has also to explain why it would not be better to have some environmentally responsible and socially accountable Western oil companies operating in Sudan, driving up standards and looking to become long-term partners for sustainable development, particularly in southern Sudan and Darfur; building local economies with pro-active approaches to capacity-building for local enterprise through local procurement and other responsible business practices.

Finally, let us not take lightly our own responsibilities as Canadians.

The stakes could not be higher, and we owe it to the poor in Sudan to make deeply considered and informed judgments in our foreign and trade policies and in our investment strategies. Sudan is peering over a precipice and we all must decide whether to engage or run for cover. To work for a pro-poor enterprise-led peace or to sit on the sidelines making political gestures. I and my co-workers in Sudan and Canada have made our choice. Over to you Mr. Kinder.

David Wheeler teaches sustainable business at York University in Toronto; from July 1, he will be dean of management at Dalhousie University in Halifax.