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Total denies AFP report of armed at



Subject: Re: Total denies AFP report of armed attack

strider, please post on BurmaNet, 
thank you, UVI.net, Dawn Star, Paris

Paris, March 5 - Responding to a published report by AFP yesterday, 
TOTAL headquarters, in the business sector of La Defense, Paris, issued a 
complete denial over allegations that of an attack had occurred on or near 
the Yadana gas field that, otherwise, if true, threatens to seriously add to 
the human rights problems already confronting  its highly controversial 
billion dollar consortium gas project. » 

TOTAL declared that the AFP report was false, saying that "TOTAL had not been 
the target of the reported atatck early February as cited by the AFP". 

However, while not denying that an attack may, in fact, have occurred in the 
area, the company spokesman said "it was not our immediate concern as long as 
Total is not directly or indirectly involved ».  

The TOTAL company added, « no one had been killed or wounded, and contrary to 
the report, no  French citizen was either killed or wounded. That has been 
confirmed by the French Ambassador, Bernard Pottier, in Rangoon ».

« This is extremely embarrassing to TOTAL, as it is to the Burmese exile 
student group that reported it to the press, » concluded  the company 
spokesman, referring to the exile student Burmese news agency, the ABSDF. 


Nonetheless, as tensions mount on the eve of the anniverasy one year ago, in 
March 1995, when the TOTAL cocmpany was attacked with five killed and eleven 
wounded, TOTAL attempted to further undermine the possiblity of any real 
danger to its pipeline project calling "the reported attack by an unknown 
armed group" both "curious" and "bizarre".

"We really cannot comment further on what may or may not have occured, if 
indeed there were local victims, as we have no proof that any attack ever 
happenned", TOTAL declared.

end