L.A. Weekly: UNOCAL Implicated in B

[bfla@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: L.A. Weekly: UNOCAL Implicated in Burma Strife

UNOCAL Implicated in Burma Strife - L.A. Weekly
By Alex Katz

Although Unocal has been in business with Burma's military junta since 1992,
the oil company's busy PR officials have always carefully guarded the
details of the partnership.   However, the Bangkok Post, an English-language
newspaper in Thailand, cited government sources to report recently that
soldiers hired by Unocal and Total, its French partner, have been engaged in
violent campaigns against ethnic minority groups in the region. The soldiers
were deployed to protect Unocal and Total's billion-dollar investment in the
Yadana natural-gas pipeline, which in the past has been the target of
bombings and other guerilla action.

Unocal's involvement in Burma has prompted landmark civil litigation,
censure from the White House and, last month, and L.A. City Council vote
barring the city from contracting with firms doing business in Burma.   The
reports that the foreign oil companies helped underwrite the military action
were corroborated for the Weekly by contacts in Burma and by the Southeast
Asian Information Network (SAIN).

The Bangkok Post on January 6 quoted a source from the Thai military who
claimed that troops from the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
are being "backed financially by UNOCAL and Total." The forces include "an
artillery battalion and five rapid-response, two of them armored," the Post
reported.   Unocal and Total also control access to the region by
determining which roads may be traversed, the paper said. Both Unocal and
Total have denied any direct payment to the military for security services.

Attacks against civilian villages and opposition base camps in minority
areas are standard practice for the Burmese military, which ascribes to a
well-publicized doctrine of ethnic cleansing. But activists here in Los
Angeles are especially outraged by evidence that the latest attacks have
been funded, whether intentionally or not, by the pipeline partners: Unocal,
Total and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand.

"Unocal has hundreds of employees in the region," says Kevin Rudiger of the
Burma Forum. "It's hard to believe them when they say they don't know what's

going on. It certainly serves their interests to keep the pipeline region
'secure.'"   According to Unocal spokesman Barry Lane, the latest
allegations are "blatantly false." Says Lane, "There has been no support
whatsoever, no funding in any shape or form, of the military on behalf of
the project." He adds, "The situation in the pipeline area is normal."
Unocal and Total are currently battling a lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal
district court filed on behalf of villagers in the pipeline area over claims
that SLORC troops, acting as security for the two companies, conscripted
workers, displaced or leveled villages, and murdered those who refused to
cooperate.

Based on evidence presented to the court, Judge Richard Paez ruled that "The
defendants have paid and continue to pay SLORC to provide labor and security
for the pipeline." If the villagers' claims are true, ruled Paez, Unocal and
Total were "essentially treating SLORC as an overseer, accepting the benefit
of and approving the use of forced labor" during the pipeline construction.
Still in question is the exact relationship between Unocal and the military
security forces. Anne Richardson, the plaintiff's attorney in the suit
against Unocal, says that most of the documents relating to the company's
relations with SLORC were submitted by Unocal under seal.

According to sources in Burma and the Bangkok Post, five new battalions of
SLORC troops recently joined the usual 30 battalions guarding the pipeline,
and have commenced a vicious campaign in the area against members of the
Karen ethnic group, which has traditionally opposed Burmese rule.   "The
battalions were created with orders to 'protect' the pipeline," says Faith
Doherty of the Thailand-based SAIN. "All of the battalions that have been
created in the last five years are a direct result of the Western investment
in that area, and those battalions would definitely be used in any military
offensive."

The Karen National Liberation Army, Burma?s largest pro-democracy guerilla
force, has tried repeatedly to sabotage the pipeline. According to a report
by EarthRights International and SAIN, a December 1996 Karen rocket attack
against the Total base camp wounded six employees. SLORC retaliated by
executing at least 11 local civilian farmers, the report said.

According to Doherty, the pipeline security detail has massed for a "final
assault" on the outgunned Karen Army. "The Karen have been battered for a
long time, and an enormous amount of their territory has been lost.  "This
latest offensive is really about putting the nail in the coffin - they want
to completely destroy any opposition in the country," says Doherty. "SLORC
has enlarged its army as a result of the oil investment. Because of the
relationship between the oil companies and the regime, the army has been
able to launch a new offensive in a region where it was previously
impossible to do so."