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BurmaNet News: December 27, part 3
CPPSM: NEWSLETTER October 1994, Vol 2, No 3 (continued)
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BURMA-THAILAND GAS PIPELINE PROGRESS
LOCAL POPULATIONS SUFFER IMMEDIATE IMPACTS
The Burmese military regime, officially known as State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), and the Thai government have recently
signed a memorandum of understanding for sale of the massive natural gas
available in the Gulf of Martaban in Burma, despite consistent opposition
from both Burmese opposition groups and international human rights and
environmentalist activists at large. According to the SLORC-Thai
agreement, Thailand will transport the Burmese natural gas via a long
pipeline crossing the Burmese ethnic guerrilla war zones to its power plants
in Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces, which border Burma. This
Burma-Thailand gas pipeline project, which are operated by the two
western oil companies Total Co of France and Unocal Corp of the US, has
already caused grave social disasters and ecological concern in Burma.
For the recent years, the Burmese SLORC regime and the Thai government
have been closely collaborating with each other in order to have this billion-
dollar natural gas project materialized against all opposition and challenges.
The SLORC regime has conducted increased forced relocation and forced
labour in Mon State and Tenasserim Division in terms of securing and
facilitating the foreign business activities in the regions, the giant Total-
Unocal gas pipeline project in particular. At the same time, Thailand has
increasingly maltreated the Burmese ethnic refugees along its border in an
effort to coerce the Burmese ethnic guerrilla groups active in the gas
pipeline project area into signing cease-fire terms with the SLORC regime,
thereby to seek more security for the gas pipeline project. As a result, both
the Burmese ethnic populations in Mon State and Tenasserim Division and
the Burmese ethnic refugees along the Thai border have become immediate
victims of the closer SLORC-Thai friendship and economic co-operation.
Thailand, desperate for energy for its growing industry, will import the
natural gas from Burma via the planned pipeline to be built from Yadana
field in the Gulf of Martaban to its power plants in Ratchaburi province.
The Total-Unocal consortium is now developing the natural gas in Yadana
field, which has estimated reserves of 5.8 trillion cubic feet. The two oil
companies are to begin supplying of 130 million cubic feet of gas per day in
1998 via the pipeline to Thailand, and to increase delivery to more than 525
million cubic feet per day in 15 months. Under the agreement, Total Co.,
Unocal Corp and SLORC are responsible for building a 416-kilometer-long
pipeline to transport the gas to Thailand. The 36-inch-diameter pipeline will
run offshore for 350 kilometers and overland for 66 kilometers. The
pipeline route has also been agreed upon by all parties concerned. Its point
of arrival in Thailand will be at Pilok, Thongpaphum district of
Kanchanaburi province. And from this point it will be linked by another
300-kilometer-long overland pipeline to Ratchaburi where a 2,800-MW
power plant will be built at a cost of more than 70 billion Baht.
All parties involved in this widely criticized natural gas pipeline project-the
Burmese SLORC regime, Thailand, and the western Total-Unocal
consortium-motivated by deep and pervasive economic greed have
respectively persisted in exploitation of Burma's rich natural resources to
make their own short-term benefit. They are now all ready to go ahead,
irrespective of any opposition and regardless of any hardship and trouble to
be faced by the innocent Burmese peoples in that part of the country, who
are in fact the rightful owners of these natural resources.
According to well-informed local sources, SLORC's local navy in the
Martaban Gulf has announced a ban on sailing/fishing for 10 miles (16
kilometers) around the Yadana gas field. Some local inhabitants who
recently attempted to do fishing in the area were reportedly stopped and
told by the SLORC navy that the area is dangerous for them. There are
reportedly three China-made patrol boats of SLORC patrolling in the 10-
mile area around the Yadana field. SLORC and the Total-Unocal
consortium are reportedly planning to lay the on-shore part of the pipeline
as much as and as deep below the ground as possible in order to get the
pipeline safer from possible sabotage. SLORC will reportedly mine the
areas where it cannot have full control-both sides of the pipeline route to
prevent possibility of any sabotage attempts on the pipeline. According to
the intelligence service unit of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), any signs
of laying the gas pipeline are not yet seen anywhere off-shore. According to
well-informed local sources, the SLORC military brought some 1,000
prisoners from several jails in the adjacent regions to the Ye-Tavoy railway
construction area during the recent months and has detained them in 5 new
labour-control centers in Ye and Yebyu townships along with thousands of
local conscripts as labour for the railway construction. Probably, SLORC
will also use these prisoners in clearing off the gas pipeline route. If the
clearing-off of the pipeline route is part of SLORC's responsibility in
building the pipeline, most possibly SLORC will use the prisoners rather
than the local conscripts to do this work. By using labour of prisoners,
relatively SLORC can get a stronger control over any possible leaks of
secret information on the issue; and at the same time can already avoid
involvement of forced civilian labour in building the pipeline and as such
can relatively better help Total Co and Unocal Corp to keep their human
rights position less critical.
The SLORC, desperate for hard currency since it seized power in 1988, has
been selling off the rich natural resources of the country such as hardwood,
fish, gems, oil and gas, and other valuable minerals at an alarming rate to
gain foreign income. SLORC has apparently used the majority of its income
in strengthening and modernizing its Armed Forces for its longer hold in
power. Over the recent years, SLORC has purchased massive sophisticated
weapons and other military equipment worth approximately US$ 1.5 billion
from neighbouring China, whereas the people of Burma as a whole have
suffered cumulative economic hardship under ever-escalating cost of
existence and widespread unemployment in the country. SLORC has
consistently repressed the democratic movements in the country and
flagrantly violated basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of
Burmese peoples, despite worldwide condemnation over its infamous
human rights record and its stubborn refusal to transfer power to an elected
civilian government. SLORC is an illegitimate regime by both national and
international laws. SLORC seized state power against the will of the people
and has already been officially rejected by the people through the 1990
popular elections in which the National League for Democracy (NLD),
political party led by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won an
overwhelming mandate of the people.
FORCED LABOUR AND FORCED RELOCATION BY SLORC
IN THE NAME OF FOREIGN INVESTMENTS
IN MON STATE AND TENASSERIM DIVISION
The use of forced labour and the practice of forced relocation have been
common in Burma since the General Ne Win-led military coup in 1962.
After the seizure of state power by the military regime State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) in 1988, the use of forced labour and the
practice of forced relocation have rapidly been increased by both amount
and quality. Following the 1988-military coup, the ruling State Law and
Order Restoration Council introduced an "Open Door" economic policy and
invited foreign business companies, welcoming international oil investment
in particular, to gain substantial foreign income. However, the so-called
open door economic policy of SLORC has only benefited the SLORC
regime itself and a narrow economic elite circle associated with it, not the
peoples of Burma in general. The ordinary population of the country at
large has suffered cumulative economic hardship and has found it even
increasingly difficult to earn a meagre hand-to-mouth existence under the
rocketing prices of basic commodities and widespread unemployment in the
country. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of Burmese ethnic populations
in many parts of the country have been further subjected to forced labour
and forced displacement by SLORC in the name of foreign investments.
Among the international oil companies investing in Burma, Total of France
and Unocal of the US have obtained a major natural gas concession in the
Gulf of Martaban including the Yadana field since 1992, while other
companies with natural gas concessions off the Tenasserim Division in the
Andaman Sea include Texaco of the US, Premier of the UK, and Nippon
Oil of Japan. To facilitate transportation and ensure security for these
foreign businesses, SLORC has urgently been repairing or constructing
railways and highways in Mon State and Tenasserim Division- including
the 110-mile-long Ye-Tavoy railway-by massive use of unpaid forced
labour. At the same time, SLORC has forcibly relocated tens of thousands
of local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan villagers in the regions into "strategic
hamlets" or "concentration camps" in terms of isolating the ethnic Mon,
Karen and Tavoyan guerrilla groups from their respective peoples, thereby
securing foreign business activities in the area such as logging, mining and
oil/gas exploration.
For the years, the SLORC regime has been seriously trying to ensure
adequate security for the billion-dollar natural gas pipeline project of Total
Co of France and Unocal Corp of the US to transport the gas from Burma to
Thailand. As the ethnic guerrilla wars are still in place in the area which the
planned Burma-Thailand gas pipeline will be laid through, it has been
urgently important for the SLORC regime to find out ways and means to
deal with the ethnic Mon and Karen guerrilla groups active in the area in
terms of promoting security of the gas pipeline project. In so doing, SLORC
has obviously tried to gain military supremacy in the gas pipeline project
area on one hand and to persuade the ethnic Mon and Karen guerrilla
groups into cease-fires with it on the other. Apparently SLORC has taken
the former tactics, however, far more seriously than the latter.
The urgent construction of the 110-mile-long Ye-Tavoy railway is a most
obvious attempt of SLORC trying to gain military supremacy in the gas
pipeline project area. SLORC has been constructing this strategic railway
by massive use of unpaid forced labour of the local inhabitants since last
dry season in November 1993. SLORC brought the railway construction to
a standstill at the onset of the monsoon season in June 1994. For the 7
months during last dry season, estimated up to 150,000 people from
150,000 local civilian households - male and female regardless of age -
were subjected to the long-term unpaid forced labour for the railway
construction. The forced labourers were mainly ethnic Mon, Karen and
Tavoyan plus a small minority Burmans. The Ye-Tavoy railway
construction is so far the biggest infrastructure project in Mon State and
Tenasserim Division which is materialized solely by means of unpaid forced
labour.
The conditions in which the forced labourers had to work were inhumane
and appalling. The labourers had to provide their own food. They had to
bring their own tools to work. They had to provide their own transportation
to reach the work sites. They were not even provided with basic medical
treatments when sick during their work duty. They were required to work up
to 10 hours a day regardless of weather. If they did not arrive their
worksites on designated time, they were beaten by the SLORC soldiers
guarding around. When they could not go and work, they were required to
hire substitutes for themselves or pay fines to the local SLORC military
authorities. Those labourers who unsuccessfully attempted to flee from
work were severely beaten, caged, subjected to indefinite front-line
portering labour, and/or fined by the local SLORC military authorities. The
conditions in which the forced labourers had to live during their work duty
were also inhuman and atrocious. The labourers were forced to defecate in
the jungle on either side of the railway route. Those labourers who came
from distant areas/villages had to sleep on either side of the railway route
without proper shelters during their work duty period. No pure-water
sources were arranged for the labourers. The forced labourers had to search
for natural water sources in their surroundings which were in many cases
contaminated and even polluted by the widely unsystematic human waste
treatment systems. The massive labourers further suffered widespread
scarcity of water during the height of the dry season in March, April and
May as small water sources dried up. As a consequence, Thousands of the
labourers fell ill and hundreds of them died because of various diseases
such as diarrhoea, dysentery, and etc. and frequent accidents such as
landslides. Thousands of the local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan communities -
men, women and children - abandoned their homes and fled to the Thai
border to escape the forced labour last dry season.
Now as the monsoon season is gone and the dry season is advancing,
SLORC has already restarted the Ye-Tavoy railway construction with the
continued massive use of unpaid forced labour as last dry season. Now the
SLORC military has already pressganged tens of thousands of civilians in
Mon State and Tenasserim Division into labour on the construction of the
Ye-Tavoy railway. As a result, hundreds of local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan
people have already started fleeing from their home villages to escape the
unpaid forced labour now. This railway construction will be going on with
the forced labour for at least half a year more until next monsoon comes. By
last dry season's experience and in view of the known urgency of security
for the upcoming Burma-Thailand gas pipeline, it is predictable that
SLORC will be increasing the amount of forced labour as in the previous
dry season in order to speed up the process of the construction. According
to escapees who have most recently arrived to the Thai border, the working
conditions and rules on the railway construction are as appalling and
inhumane as last dry season. These are reasons signalling new influxes of
Burmese ethnic refugees-especially, Mon, Karen and Tavoyan-to the Thai
border.
The fate of the 416-kilometer-long upcoming Burma-Thailand gas pipeline,
in practical terms, massively depends on the strategic Ye-Tavoy railway
now being urgently constructed by SLORC by the continued use of unpaid
forced labour. This connection - connection between the fate of the
upcoming Burma-Thailand gas pipeline and the urgently constructed Ye-
Tavoy railway - now becomes more clear as SLORC still cannot persuade
the Mon or Karen guerrilla groups which are presently active in the pipeline
project area ino cease-fire terms with it. On the other hand the SLORC-Thai
gas deal has been signed and the Burma-Thailand gas pipeline will be built
anyway. But the Mon and Karen guerrilla groups are going to remain as a
continuing threat to the security of the gas pipeline. Under these
circumstances, the only way for SLORC to ensure adequate security for the
gas pipeline project is to ensure its military control over the gas pipeline
project area - both land and sea. The 110-mile-long Ye-Tavoy railway, as
strategically located, will greatly help SLORC to gain more control of the
gas pipeline project area against the Mon and Karen guerrilla groups. This
railway, in practical terms, will massively facilitate the logistics of SLORC
and in turn will enable SLORC to more easily deploy and infiltrate its
troops into the gas pipeline project area on a more effective basis. By this
way, SLORC can increasingly overcome the Mon and Karen guerrilla forces
in the gas pipeline project's land area. At the same time it will make the
Mon and Karen guerrillas significantly more difficult to move from land to
sea as the SLORC troops are present along the 11 0-mile length from Ye
through to Tavoy.
SLORC has already deployed many new infantry battalions along the 110-
mile length of the Ye-Tavoy railway route and the parallel highway since
last year. As a matter of fact, SLORC has been urgently constructing not
only the Ye-Tavoy railway itself but also its new military encampments
along the railway route at the same time. During the 7 months last dry
season, the forced labourers were required to work for the construction of
both the railway and a number of SLORC's new military encampments
along the railway route. For the construction of these new SLORC military
encampments along the railway route during last dry season, the forced
labourers were required to fell trees and bamboos in the forests, to process
them into needed lengths and sizes, to carry them to the designated
locations by men, by bullock carts and by trucks as well as by rafting them
down the river along the Tenasserim coast, and to build barracks, trenches,
fencing and etc., for the SLORC military.
Tens of thousands of ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan populations from a
number of villages in Mon State and Tenasserim Division have been
subjected to forced relocation by SLORC since 1991. Many cases of this
forced relocation have probably related to the security of the foreign
business activities in the region. The Burmese Army/SLORC generally
regards these rural ethnic communities as sympathizers of the Mon, Karen
and Tavoyan guerrilla groups, and as such has never trusted them. The
Burmese Army/SLORC has always tried to separate these rural ethnic
populations from the ethnic guerrilla groups operating in the areas, using
forced relocation as a traditional tactic. Since 1992, estimated more than
30,000 Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people from more than 50 villages in
Tenasserim Division have been forcibly displaced or relocated into strategic
hamlets miles distant from their primary locations. Some of the affected
villages and their estimated populations are given in the following lists.
SLORC'S FORCED RELOCATION/DISPLACEMENT OF ETHNIC
VILLAGES IN TENASSERIM DIVISION SINCE MAY 1991
(I) Yebyu Township
Dates of Forced Relocation/Displacement - during the first quarter of 1993
Conducted by SLORC's regular infantry battalion No. (104) and light
infantry battalion No. (408)
Affected Villages:
1. Barine (Mayan)
2. Yapu
3. Kywethalin
4. Kyauk Gadin
5. Ale Sakhan
6. Kyauktayan
Estimated Total PoPulation: 2,500
(II) Tavoy Township
Dates of Forced Relocation/Displacement - during the 1992/1993 dry
season
Conducted by SLORC's light infantry battalion No. (403) and other local
units
Affected Villages:
1. Taung Zin
2. Badat Chaung
3. Kyaukbyu
4. Laung Minba
5. Hti Ywar
6. Ka Hti Wa
7. Inn Ywar
ti. I'einbin Aing
9. Oat Tu
10. Kado Twin
Total Households: 732
Estimated Total Population: proximate 4,000
(III) Thayet Chaubg Township
Dates of Forced Relocation/Displacement - April 1992
Conducted by SLORC's local infantry battalions during their "Than Lyet
Sit Hsin Yay" military operation
Affected Villages:
1. Thayet Hna Khwa
2. Ye Byat
3. Me Ke
4. Kyauk Aing
5. Winkapaw
6. Kywe Cyan
7. Alezu
8. Byat Wi
9. Taung Byauk
10. Yapu
11. Thabyu Chaung
12. The Lan
13. Gonnyin Zeit
14. Yegyo Chaung
15. Thayetpin Aing
16. Si Dat
17. Pyinbyuthar
18. Sone Zin
19. Si Taw
Total Households: 2404
Estimated Total Population: over 13,000
SABOTAGE THREATS FROM BURMESE/ETHNIC OPPOSITION
GROUPS
The pro-autonomy ethnic Mon guerrilla group, New Mon State Party
(NMSP), entered a bilateral cease-fire negotiation with SLORC late last
year. The Mon-SLORC cease-fire negotiation held in Mon State's capital
Moulmein, however, ended in a deadlock over territorial control in the third
round of talks from 26th June to 2nd July this year. And SLORC's local
62nd infantry battalion based in Three Pagodas Pass attacked the nearby
Mon refugee camp at Halockhani on 21st July. Following the deadlocked
cease-fire talks with SLORC and the attack on 6,000 Mon refugees by
SLORC's troops, NMSP publicly announced that it indefinitely suspended
the cease-fire talks with SLORC. Concerning with NMSP's stance on the
Burma-Thailand gas pipeline issue, an NMSP spokesman recently told the
press that NMSP will try to stop the gas pipeline by any means possible. He
added:
Using violence to destroy the pipeline would be our last
option, but in the end we would have no choice. Economic
deals between SLORC and foreign companies will
encourage SLORC to stay in power and buy more arms to
kill and oppress the people. We cannot allow that.
SLORC also has tried to persuade the strongest ethnic guerrilla group
Karen National Union (KNU) into cease-fire terms with it, by sending the
Anglican Archbishop of Burma to mediate with KNU leaders. But no
substantive progress has so far happened towards a KNU-SLORC cease-
fire. Following the Anglican Archbishop's second visit to KNU
headquarters at Manerplaw in September this year, KNU in a statement said
that SLORC has not made any real change in attitude apart from some
cosmetic change to improve its international image. "the necessary dialogue
can only satisfactorily occur on neutral ground and in the presence of an
independent international observer" says the KNU statement. In the
statement, KNU also urges the Royal Thai Government and other members
of the international community to use their influence to persuade SLORC
to acknowledge the need for genuine dialogue towards a real political
settlement which goes beyond separate cease-fires as a means of achieving
lasting peace in Burma. .
The Burmese ethnic opposition armies are very likely to remain as a
constant threat to the security of the planned Burma-Thailand gas pipeline.
Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB), a coalition made of Burmese ethnic
and pro-democracy forces including Karen National Union and New Mon
State Party which are active in the gas pipeline area, publicly announced in
September 1993 that "if the pipeline is ever built, any armour-piercing
ammunition will damage it and any hand grenade will turn it into a snake of
fire. SLORC can never hope to patrol it all". The three major ethnic
guerrilla groups still remaining at war with SLORC - he Karen National
Union (KNU), the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Karenni National
Progressive Party - signed a pledge for unity in mid July this year, vowing
to closely co-operate in dealing with SLORC.
THAILAND'S COMPLICITY IN BURMA'S INTERNAL POLITICS IN
THE NAME OF ITS ECONOMIC INTERESTS IN BURMA
Thailand has actively exercised the widely criticized "Policy of
Constructive Engagement" in dealing with Burma's ruling State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC) alongside the 5 other member-
countries of the regional intergovernmental Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei
and the Philippines. Thailand is one of the major countries investing in
Burma since SLORC took power in 1988. Having denuded its own-forests,
Thailand imposed a logging ban in the country against deforestation, thus
paving the way for Thai logging companies to exploit neighbouring Burma's
rich forests in competition. Within three months after SLORC's seizure of
power, the then Thai Army commander General Chavalit (now Interior
Minister) helped 18 Thai logging companies to gain 43 two-year and three-
year concessions in Burma. Logging companies from Thailand alone have
reportedly contributed some US$ 112 million annually to SLORC, making
more than half of the US$ 200 million of SLORC's total annual income
from foreign logging businesses. Thai companies also have been widely
involved in fishing in Burma.
For the recent years, Thailand has with a relentless effort been planning to
further import natural gas from Burma via a pipeline to satisfy its industry's
growing energy demand. And recently the Thai government has signed a
memorandum of understanding with the Burmese SLORC regime,
confirming its purchase of natural gas from Yadana gas field in Burma's
Gulf of Martaban being developed by Total Co of France and Unocal Corp
of the US, which have gained the concession since 1992. As the planned
gas pipeline will necessarily be laid across the Mon and Karen territories,
Thai authorities in a move to help ensure security of the gas pipeline project
have put increasing pressure on the Mon and Karen guerrilla groups to enter
into cease-fire deals with the SLORC regime. In so doing, Thai military and
civil authorities have driven the Mon and Karen refugees seeking shelters
on the Thai border from pillar to post. The forcible relocation of 7,400 Mon
refugees at Loh Loe camp began in January this year. Out of these 7,400
refugees, the majority were repatriated to Burmese side of the border at
Halockhani which was located at an only 5-kilometer distance from
SLORC's local army stationed at Three Pagodas Pass. The rest of the
refugees at Loh Loe were at the same time removed about 30 kilometers to
the west to Pa Yaw, another Mon refugee camp which was situated nearby
the Thai-Burma border line. In July this year, Halockhani Mon refugee
camp was attacked by the Three Pagodas Pass-based 62nd infantry battalion
of SLORC. As a result the 6,000 refugees in the camp all fled across the
border to the Thai soil for safety. Thai authorities, however, consistently
refused to accept the refugees. The Thai authorities eventually forced the
6,000 Mon refugees back to Halockhani in Burmese territory by means of
imposing a blockade on their makeshift shelter on the Thai border despite
the massive media coverage of the event and the immediate international
condemnation over its mistreatment of the 6,000 Mon refugees Presently,
these 6,000 Mon refugees are already back in their shelters at Halockhani
on the Burmese side of the border and are all living in constant fear of
further attacks by SLORC's troops
Thai authorities have forcibly relocated several other Mon refugee camps
and villages on tie Thai border since 1991. 2,500 Mon refugees at Day
Bung refugee camp were forcibly relocated by local Thai authorities to
Hlabrad refugee camp (in Loh Loe area) in the middle of the monsoon
season in June 1991. 1,000 Mon villagers at Ban Mai were forcibly vacated
from the site by local Thai militiamen in March 1992 A total of 5,000 Mon
refugees from three other refugee camps - namely Krone Kung, Panung
Htaw and Day Bung - were at the same time forcibly relocated to Loh Loe
in April 1992. Some 500 Mon villagers at Halockhani (which was situated
in Thai territory at that time) were forced back to the Burmese side of the
border in April 1993 by local Thai authorities. (The new settlement, though
inside Burmese territory, still retained the name 'Halockhani" But this
village was not under the administration of the Mon National Relief
Committee until the refugees from Loh Loe camp were repatriated to the
area and combined with the 500 or so old villagers of Halockhani.) Two
Karen villages on the Thai border near Nat Ein Taung were also burned
down by the Thai army in April 1993 in a move to secure the gas pipeline
route.
Over recent years the Thai government has increasing suppressed the anti-
SLORC movements in Thailand of Burmese ethnic and democratic
opposition groups in an effort to have a more friendly relationship with
SLORC. Many members of the parallel National Coalition Government of
the Union of Burma (NCGUB), which is made of a dozen elected
representatives of 1990 elections, were denied entry to Thailand after their
lobbying trips to the United States Liaison of offices in Bangkok and some
Thai border provinces of the Burmese ethnic and democratic opposition
groups have been closed down or deprived of freedom to function by Thai
authorities. At the same time under the rhetoric of Constructive Engagement
the Thai government has become increasingly friendly with the SLORC
regime. High-ranking officials from both regimes have exchanged several
state visits since SLORC's seizure of power in 1988. In a move to lend
legitimacy to SLORC the Thai government cordially hosted SLORC's
foreign minister to be present in the July ASEAN ministerial conference in
Bangkok as an observer despite overwhelming domestic and international
criticism and condemnation But the SLORC army's attack on the 6,000
Mon refugees at Halockhani camp on 21st July ironically coincided the
presence in the ASEAN meeting of the SLORC Foreign Minister. As a
result, SLORC was subject to immediate worldwide condemnation for its
flagrant abuses on the Mon refugees and the Thai government had to share
the international blame and condemnation for its consistent support to a
most ruthless brutal military dictatorship (SLORC) and for its mistreatment
of the 6,000 Mon refugees from Halockhani. Thailand, however, still tightly
holds its Policy of Constructive Engagement and continues to be closely
associating with SLORC to suck the rich natural resources in Burma in
order to quench its thirst for energy, contrariwise claiming that only the
Constructive Engagement Policy can guide such a ruthless brutal regime as
SLORC towards desirable democratic changes in Burma.
ACCOUNTABILITY OF TOTAL CO AND UNOCAL CORP FOR
FORCED LABOUR RELATED TO SECURITY OF THEIR GAS
PIPELINE PROJECT
Total Co of France and Unocal Corp of the US are the concessionaires of
the 26,140 kilometer surface area in the Martaban Gulf, including the
Yadana field which contains estimated total 5.8 trillion cubic feet of
untapped natural gas. Total Co is the operator of the Martaban Cu If gas
project and holds 52.5 0F0 interest, Unocal Corp having a minority interest
of 47.5%. The Total-Unocal consortium is to deliver the natural gas from
the Martaban Gulf of Burma to Thailand via a pipeline, which will
necessarily be laid across the ethnic Mon and Karen territories, where
SLORC so far has little or no control. To ensure the SLORC's military
control over these guerrilla-war zones is the very first and foremost stage of
the materialization of the gas pipeline project. Territorial security for the
gas pipeline project is completely indispensable to the Total-Unocal
consortium as well as all other parties involved in it. So Total Co and
Unocal Corp must also be brought to account for all human rights
violations committed by SLORC in terms of securing and facilitating the
Total-Unocal gas pipeline project.
In terms of securing the foreign business projects in Mon State and
Tenasserim Division, SLORC has already created enormous social disaster
in the rural ethnic communities in the regions, which is tantamount to hell.
For the recent years, SLORC has conducted a series of violent forced
relocation and inhumane forced labour in Mon State and Tenasserim
Division. Tens of thousands of ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan populations
have been subjected to forced relocation or displacement by SLORC since
l992. More than 120,000 of local ethnic communities - male and female
including the old, the under-aged and the pregnant - have been subjected to
unpaid forced labour for the construction of the 110-mile-long Ye-Tavoy
railway since last dry season already resulting in hundreds of deaths,
thousands of sicknesses and tens of thousands of displaced persons and
refugees. Having been in recess for 4 months of the monsoon season, tens
of thousands of the local inhabitants are again being forced by the SLORC
military into unpaid labour on the Ye-Tavoy railway construction. SLORC
needs an urgent completion of this strategic railway to better secure the
billion-dollar gas pipeline project of the Total-Unocal consortium.
Foreign investments in Burma only support SLORC's longer stay in power
to further oppress the peoples of Burma and suppress democratic
movements in the country, and do not benefit the Burmese peoples in
general. International human rights and environmentalist activists at large,
seriously concerned about the gas project-related human rights violations
and environmental degradation in Burma, have been pressuring and
demanding Total Co and Unocal Corp to withdraw from Burma. However,
both Total Co and Unocal Corp have persisted in furthering their economic
deals with the SLORC military dictatorship, respectively arguing that any
cases of the forced labour and forced displacement in Burma are not related
to the natural gas project in which they are involved. In its 25th March 1994
letter to Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), Total Co stated:
Since April 1993 our engineers have conducted several surveys
along the whole length of the Burmese pipeline route on foot by
car and by helicopter. The area is very sparsely populated.
There are few villages and the region is perfectly calm. No
population displacement should occur anywhere along the
pipeline route.
Total Co also said that the pipeline itself will be done by international
contractors using local manpower as much as possible, providing
remunerative job opportunities". This statement of Total Co is superficial
and does not reflect a true picture of the real situation in the local ethnic
Mon, Karen and Tavoyan communities, who collectively are affected by the
gas pipeline project both directly and indirectly. These local ethnic
communities have already suffered long-term unpaid forced labour on the
construction of the Ye-Tavoy railway, on which the fate of the Total-Unocal
gas pipeline project substantially depends. Without this strategic railway, it
will be relatively far more difficult for SLORC to overcome the Mon and
Karen guerrillas in the gas pipeline project area. Until and unless SLORC is
able to gain control of the gas pipeline project area the realization of the
Total-Unocal gas pipeline project will only remain physically impossible.
Total Co of France and Unocal Corp of the US, in the name of their
economic interests in Burma, have intentionally neglected the obvious fact
that the Burmese Army/SLORC's campaigns for strengthening its military
control in ethnic territories have always directly hurt the rural ethnic
populations. Both Total Co and Unocal Corp, by virtue of their agreement
with SLORC for the gas pipeline project, have automatically already
demanded and required SLORC to ensure security of the project area,
which is an integral part of the ethnic guerrilla war zones in Burma. The
fact that SLORC is a human rights violator on its own cannot be used as a
camouflage by Total Co and Unocal Corp to hide their social and moral
irresponsibility over the innocent ethnic populations, who are affected
directly or indirectly by their gas pipeline project. Both Total Co and
Unocal Corp are partially responsible for all human rights violations
committed by SLORC in terms of securing their gas pipeline project - for
they have hired the SLORC paying several hundred million dollars to
secure the gas pipeline project. Both Total Co and Unocal Corp must
therefore be brought to account for their virtual collusion with the well-
known human rights violators SLORC and the resultant massive suffering
and hardship having been faced by the hundreds of thousands of innocent
human beings on the construction of the Ye-Tavoy railway, which is the
most obvious cause and reason of the urgently required security for the
Total-Unocal gas pipeline project.
The Burmese Army, since the military dictatorship was born by General Ne
Win in 1962 up to these days, has generally regarded the innocent ethnic
populations in the rural areas of the country where it has little or no control
as sympathizers and collaborators of the ethnic guerrilla groups of their
respective races; and as such has normally maltreated and abused them
through several types of gross human rights violations in processes of its
military offensive campaigns against the ethnic guerrilla groups. The
Burmese military dictatorship has further officially declared these areas as
Black Areas meaning Free-Fire Zones. In these so-called Black Areas,
including the present Total-Unocal gas pipeline project area, human rights
abuses of the Burmese Army such as arbitrary arrests, summary executions,
forced relocation/displacement, forced portering labour, rapes, looting,
extortion and so forth have been the order of the day. These ethnic
populations have completely been subject to the whims of the
Burmese/SLORC military. Under such these circumstances, hatred and fear
to the Burmese/SLORC Army have naturally increased and been deeply
ingrained within these ethnic communities. As a result, these ethnic
communities have lacked any trust and confidence in the Burmese Army.
They run away when Burmese troops come into their villages and only dare
to go back to their villages when the Burmese troops have returned. Those
villagers who cannot escape are normally subjected to any of the human
rights abuses mentioned afore by the Burmese troops. Since 1984, the
Burmese Army has launched a major strategic campaign, which is
notoriously known as the Four-Cuts Campaign for Annihilation of
Insurgency Movements" in the country: To cut any communication and
support between the ethnic guerrilla groups and ethnic populations. Under
the rhetoric of the Four-Cuts Campaign, forced relocation/displacement of
ethnic villages by the Burmese Army has been common in the ethnic
territories of the country. The Burmese Army has normally forced the ethnic
villages which it cannot fully control to relocate in "strategic hamlets or
"concentration camps" as a traditional tactic to weaken the ethnic rebel
groups and strengthen its military control. The SLORC regime has further
intensified this strategic Four-Cuts Campaign in order to secure the foreign
business activities in the areas where it has had only loose control. It is
transparent that the foreign business operations in the ethnic territories
where SLORC has not had full control are obvious reasons for SLORC's
increase of the forced relocation/displacement. In trying to secure the
oil/gas exploration and developing activities of the foreign companies in
Tenasserim - such as Total Co of France, Unocal Corp of the US, Premier
of the U K, Texaco of the US and Nippon Oil of Japan - SLORC has
increasingly conducted forced relocation of the ethnic villages in the
regions. For this, all these foreign oil companies must share with SLORC
any international blames and punishments.
The gas pipeline area, which the Total Co said its representatives have
thoroughly surveyed, means just the pipeline route per se and is far smaller
than the actual size of the area and population affected by the ruthless
inhumane measures taken by SLORC in terms of securing their gas
projects. Total Co and Unocal Corp must not be allowed to hide the real
amount and seriousness of social disaster and ecological concern causing in
the regions where their gas projects are located. Both Total Co and Unocal
Corp should be honest enough and must fully expose the actual human
miseries and environmental problems having been caused due mainly to
their gas pipeline project. The area for the gas pipeline route, as Total Co
says, may be truly sparsely populated and no population displacement
should occur due to the laying of the pipeline itself. But hundreds of
thousands of innocent ethnic peoples in Mon State and Tenasserim
Division have already suffered the effects of the long-terms unpaid forced
labour on the Ye-Tavoy railway construction imposed by SLORC in the
name of the urgently required security for the Total-Unocal gas pipeline.
SLORC is greedy enough to kill off every Karen and Mon in the area, so
that the pipeline might seem safe said the opposition Democratic Alliance
of Burma (DAB) in its 27th September 1993 statement.
Unocal Corp of the US, in line with its project partner Total Co of France,
has also completely neglected the cries of the Burmese peoples for
withdrawal of its economic deals with the ruthless brutal SLORC military
dictatorship. John Imle, executive vice president of Unocal, in April this
year stated: "I don 't think they (SLORC) are gaining legitimacy on the
world stage by having Total and Unocal there. I think the people have
gained through employment. As a matter of fact, the SLORC military
dictatorship is gaining several hundred million dollars from Total Co and
Unocal Corp to buy more weapons to oppress the Burmese peoples for its
longer stay in power. In its 11 May 1994 press release, New Mon State
Party stated:
Ethnic nationalities and ecological diversity are the immediate
victims of greed and racism, because the oil and gas
corporations and multinational investors are assisting the
SLORC military junta with techniques and propaganda to
legitimize the SLORC rule.
The guerrilla wars are still in place in the Mon and Karen territories, which
the Total-Unocal gas pipeline will be laid through. If the Total-Unocal gas
pipeline project is to be going on anyway, there is a convincing scenario for
considerable increase of fighting between the SLORC Army and the ethnic
guerrilla groups in Mon State, Karen State and Tenasserim Division,
competing for domination of the gas pipeline project area. In such a
situation, the rural ethnic populations in the regions will no doubt be facing
a terrible harder time to survive the wars, and to escape a simultaneous
increase of human rights violations by the traditionally ruthless racist
SLORC Army, such as arbitrary arrests, summary killings, torture, forced
portering labour, forced relocation and so forth as have been commonplace
in the so-called Black Areas. Under such these circumstances, more
Burmese ethnic refugees from the regions will flee to the Thai border, as it
has always happened before.
References:
1. The Bangkok Post
2. The Nation
3. Los Angeles Times (April 13 or around, 1994)
4. The February 1994 Report and the April 1994 Report by Investor
Responsibility Research Center Inc. (IRRC)
5. The 27th April 1994 Report "The Chain Saw Gang Debacle in Burma" by
Greenpeace
6. Total Co's letter to IRRC, dated 25th March 1994
7. The 11th May 1994 press release by New Mon State Party
8. The 27th September 1993 statement by Democratic Alliance of Burma
***************************************************************
NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
AW: ASIAWEEK
AWSJ: ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt.=US$1 (APPROX),
BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
BI: BURMA ISSUES
BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI
BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN
CPPSM: C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND
FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
JIR: JANE'S INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
Kt. BURMESE KYAT; 150 KYAT=US$1 BLACK MARKET
100 KYAT=US$1 SEMI-OFFICIAL
6 KYAT=US$1 OFFICIAL
MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN
NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER, RANGOON)
S.C.B.:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
S.C.T.:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL
USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
**************************************************************
end part three of three