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Unocal Picketed Over
- Subject: Unocal Picketed Over
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 19:46:00
Subject: Unocal Picketed Over Burma Project
Unocal Picketed Over
Burma Project
Monday, June 2, 1997 9:19 pm EDT
BREA, Calif. (AP) -- Unocal Corp. shareholders
voted down
two resolutions regarding a $1 billion gas pipeline
project in
Burma as dozens of activists protested outside Monday's
meeting.
One resolution called for Unocal to report the
costs of boycotts,
litigation and lobbying due to the project. The
second asked
Unocal to investigate allegations that its Burmese
partner is
laundering money from the heroin trade.
Unocal spokesman David Garcia said the allegations
are untrue
and are supported by activists opposed to Burma's
military
government.
Both resolutions were voted down by more than 90
percent of
the approximately 400 shareholders, Garcia said.
But both
received enough favorable votes to allow them to be
brought up
again next year, said Pam Wellner of activist group
Free Burma.
Human rights groups have accused Burma's military
of burning
villages and using forced labor to build
infrastructure for a
pipeline that will carry gas to Thailand. Unocal
and France's
Total SA are part-owners, along with Burma's
government.
``Ultimately we want the shareholders to realize
that this is not a
good decision and they stand to lose everything if
something
happens to the pipeline or if something happens to
the regime,''
said activist Louisa Benson.
Unocal maintains the joint venture is actually
helping people in
southern Burma by bringing roads, schools and
hospitals.
President Clinton last month issued an executive
order to ban
new U.S. investments in Burma because of the country's
increased repression of democracy efforts.