George Orwell once predicted that of all the countries of the British Empire, none was more likely to prosper on achieving independence than Burma. That was sixty years ago, when it was one of the most developed countries in Asia, on a par with Hong Kong and Singapore. Burma is abundant in natural resources, including oil, gas, jade, precious stones, teak and some of Asia’s last remaining rainforest. But since World War II it has been impoverished by one of the longest running and most brutal military dictatorships of the modern era. The people of South East Asia’s richest country are now amongst the poorest in the world. Thousands have fled violence, threats of torture, beatings, rape and murder, seeking refuge in Thailand, China and Bangladesh.
     
Today Burma has been given the United Nations' Least Developed Country status - putting it in the same league as sub-Saharan African countries. Yet this April a major pipeline stretching 42 miles across the Burmese countryside will go on stream - pumping millions of dollars’ worth of gas from an offshore rig to the Thai border. The $700 million project aims to exploit the Yetagun gas field in the Gulf of Martaban, 124 miles off the western coast of Burma. Needless to say, the yields from this project will be high, and it will make a few people very rich indeed.
     
Burma’s military rulers stand to gain tens of millions of dollars in profits on sales of gas supplied through the pipeline. But for local villagers, driven from their homes to make way for the pipeline, those dollars are a curse that spells slavery, torture and even death.
     
The Yetagun pipeline travels down the same route cleared for the Yadana pipeline, built in the mid-nineties by a joint venture between America's UNOCAL and Total of France. It was during the construction of the Yadana pipeline that the systematic relocation of villagers, forced labour and human rights abuses started to increase. In 1996 the campaign group Earth Rights International (ERI) published a report describing how SLORC troops tormented local villagers (SLORC is the old name for the military government and stands for State Law and Order Restoration Council. The military junta has since changed its name to the euphemistic State Peace and Development Council). Many of those who did not flee to refugee camps in Thailand were put to work in forced labour camps where they were kept under constant guard and fed just one meal a day.
     
Men and women interviewed by ERI told how they were made to work as porters for soldiers and forced to clear forest on the pipeline route. There were numerous reports of torture, rape, looting and the destruction of property in the area. ERI points out that SLORC soldiers are infamous for this sort of behaviour, and the pipeline was simply a new opportunity for them to exercise these tactics. UNOCAL and Total denied the reports.
     
In 1997, following longstanding protests against Western investment in Burma, President Bill Clinton introduced US economic sanctions against the regime. At the time Texaco and Premier Oil were joint partners in the Yetagun project. Following Clinton's sanctions Texaco pulled out of the venture. But Premier Oil ploughed ahead with the plans - pouring more funds into the project, despite a plea from Burma's democratic leader Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi to halt investment until the restoration of democracy. Thanks to Premier Oil's investment, democracy will seem further away than ever.
     
Premier Oil calls its presence in Burma "constructive engagement" and argues that "the development of an emerging country's energy resources is one of the prime requisites for longer term economic growth." Though philosophically debatable, Premier Oil would have a point if any significant benefits for ordinary people in Burma were even remotely likely. According to UN and World Bank measures, the situation for Burma's population is deteriorating. The profits paid to the Burmese government will be used to fund the military regime - they do not contribute to democratic development and economic growth for the population at large.

The military dictatorship spends nearly half of its annual budget on the army; just 8% is spent on health and education. Income from foreign investment and trade strengthens the regime’s stranglehold on its population.
While Premier Oil pumps gas to Thailand, millions of dollars will flow into the military junta's account, fuelling suffering and misery for years to come. - by David Cohen

PREMIER OIL AGM
Calling all UK spiders: Premier Oil AGM will be on Monday 15th May. All those who would like to own a share in Premier Oil and enter their AGM please contact Rachel or Ko Aung IMMEDIATELY on 07931 753 138 or email khinkhin@breathemail.net

CONTACTS
Contact the Burma Campaign UK at: bagp@gn.apc.org or visit www.burmacampaign.org.uk
Major UK shareholders in Premier Oil as of 24th January 2000 are:
* Amerada Hess, parent company of Amerada Gas which supplies domestic gas to households in the Midlands, owns 25%.
* Guardian Royal Exchange life insurance company - 4.73%,
Major overseas shareholders include:
* Petronas International Corp - Malaysian oil prospecting company - 25%
* Sanford C Bernstein & Co Inc - American financial services corporation -4.27%,
* Aegon UK PLC - subsidiary of Dutch life insurance company - 2.17% 

In 1998 The US Department of Labor issued a report noting that allegations of the use of forced labor on infrastructure development projects in Burma was widespread. So much so, that the value of the work of people who contributed their labor in rural development projects had been reported in the Government’s budget figures.
     
Allegations suggest that forced labor continues to be used on infrastructure projects designed to support the tourism industry in Burma. Villagers can avoid forced labor if they pay fees to the authorities, but most individuals do not have enough money to pay on a long-term basis. In addition, many villages appear to have been ordered to supply tools, food, other materials, and transportation for the duration of a given project.
     
Oil companies involved with the Yadana pipeline have vigorously denied any association of forced labor with actual pipeline construction.
In March 1999, a French Parliamentary Mission traveled to Burma and visited the Yadana pipeline project. The Parliamentary Mission, made up of members of the French National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, was formed to evaluate the role of oil companies in international politics as well as their social and environmental impacts worldwide. In an interview published in May 1999, the Chair of the Mission stated that "the Burmese army resorted to forced labour for various preliminary works on the building site of the gas pipeline, built thereafter by Total. Some clearings of undergrowth and portering was accomplished with forced labour before the Total personnel began the construction of the gas pipeline."


From the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs 2000 Report on Labor Practices in Burma, published February 2000.