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BurmaNet: Death on the Pipeline
**************************BurmaNet***************************
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
*************************************************************
The BurmaNet News: 12 March 1995
Issue #123: SPECIAL ISSUE---DEATH ON THE PIPELINE
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Contents:
********************DEATH ON THE PIPELINE********************
BURMANET: KILLING OF FRENCH TEAM INTENSIFIES BURMA'S CIVIL WAR
BURMANET: PIPELINE DEATHS BODE ILL FOR REFUGEES
BF/DBSA: CALL FOR CALM AFTER PIPELINE DEATHS IN BURMA
REUTERS: FIVE GAS PIPELINE WORKERS KILLED IN BURMA ATTACK
KNU: ON THE BURMA-THAILAND NATURAL GAS PIPELINE
BKK POST: TEXACO, OTHERS JOIN GAS RUSH IN BURMA
AP: FOREIGN INVESTMENT RISES DRAMATICALLY IN BURMA
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**************************************************************
*************THE BURMANET NEWS--MARCH 12, 1995***************
**************************************************************
*********************DEATH ON THE PIPELINE********************
BURMANET: KILLING OF FRENCH TEAM INTENSIFIES BURMA'S CIVIL WAR
12 March 1995
By killing five members of a Total survey team last Thursday, KNU
rebels have raised the stakes in Burma's long-running civil war.
Among the five dead it appears that two were French nationals,
who are the first non-combatant foreigners killed as part of the
ethnic conflict in Burma. Total has stated that all the dead
were Burmese nationals.
According to a KNU spokesman, troops from their 4th Brigade
fought a series of engagements with SLORC troops on the 7th and
8th of March. BurmaNet also has indications that someone,
presumably the KNU, fired on two helicopters earlier in the week
but did not inflict damage. A KNU spokesman confirmed that their
forces attacked a SLORC camp at Kanbauk on 7 March at 10:45 AM,
but had no information on casualties. The encampment was
occupied by Battalions 409 and 410 of the Tatmadaw.
A senior KNU official from the Mergui/Tavoy district confirmed
that the KNU attacked a military car at 7:00 AM on Thursday, the
8th. The car was had military markings and there were SLORC
troops in the vehicle according to the KNU official. The
officials said that they were aware of at least one "farang"
[Thai for Caucasian) who was among the dead.
Kanbauk is 12 kilometers straight-line distance form from the
Andaman Sea coast and another 35 kilometers on to the Thai
border. It is fewer than five kilometers from the planned
Total/Unocal natural gas pipeline. Significantly, the Karens who
attacked Kanbauk were operating somewhat off their home fields.
Just to the north of Kanbauk is a Mon stronghold but the KNU 4th
Brigade base area is some distance off.
According to another report, believed by BurmaNet to be reliable,
the dead were taken to Rangoon and two bodies were quickly flown
out of the country. These presumably were French nationals and
the other three were presumably Burmese nationals. It is still
not entirely clear whether they were Total officials or SLORC,
although it is conceivable that they were both.
The likely impact of the attack is far-reaching. First off, if
the SLORC reacts true to form, they will by now have begun
seeking vengeance on civilians living in the area. It is
standard procedure for the SLORC to hold the villages near where
an attack takes place responsible and the revenge they take is
often vicious. Given the significance of this particular attack,
the fate of local villagers is likely to be difficult. Whether
this is the case should become evident within a number of weeks
through an increase of refugees along the Thai/Burma border.
The response of Total and Unocal is less predictable. The death
of Frenchmen will raise the profile of Total's operations among
the French people. To date, Total has escaped serious scrutiny
in France for their operations in Burma. The attack may slow the
development especially as it occurred in an area already under
the "control" of the SLORC. Kanbauk is flat land, some 15
kilometers from the foothills of the Bilauktaung range where the
KNU is at home in their familiar mountains. In a confidential
letter to senior staff, Unocal recently justified its involvement
in Burma on the basis that the natural gas discovered there was
the largest find they had made in recent years. No mention was
made of ethical difficulties or dangers of the involvement. This
incident is likely to cause some discontent within the company
and among shareholders, some of whom are already opposed to it.
Nowhere is the impact likely to be felt more than in Thailand,
which is the primary beneficiary of the pipeline. Thai policy
is taking place on two levels. In public, there is a good deal
of posturing. PM Chuan Leekpai is offering to mediate and the
Foreign Minister is also making soothing noises. In practice,
things stand rather differently. SLORC troops and their DKBA
proxies are making repeated incursions in Thailand, attacking
refugee camps and making clear that being in "the other country"
is not the same as being out of reach. For their part, Thai
authorities have posted a few guards but have made no serious
effort to protect the refugees. [An exact bodycount of those
killed and kidnapped by DKBA/SLORC troops will be posted as soon
as it is available but the numbers are impressive and growing.]
If you lay out a map of the refugee camps and mark the locations
of DKBA attacks and kidnappings, a simple pattern emerges. The
SLORC, with tacit Thai consent, is attacking the camps housing
the families of the northern and central brigades of the KNU.
Thus far the southern brigades (4 and 6) have escaped serious
pressure. According to the Thai businessman/fixer/NSC
representative Xuwicha Hiranyaprueck, the SLORC intends to
destroy "Bo Mya's KNU" and then negotiate a separate cease-fire
with the more tractable 4th and 6th Brigades. This strategy
would also fit with what Total executives have been promised by
Thai authorities. At meetings with Total executives where
pipeline security was discussed, Thai officials promised that the
KNU and NMSP would soon sign cease-fires and would not attack the
pipeline because they are too dependant on the good-will of
Thailand.
There may well be dissension between the southern brigades and
Bo Mya, but the SLORC and Thai strategy of coming down on "Bo
Mya's KNU" while leaving the 4th and 6th Brigades alone is
unlikely to survive the revenge SLORC will exact on villagers on
Karen villagers there.
The KNU has over recent years, lost most of its funding sources.
In the offensive that began last December, they have also lost
their most prominent bases along the Thai/Burma border. Prior
to this attack, most observers have written off the KNU as a
fighting force. The pipeline however, may prove a lifeline to
the beleaguered organization. KNU president Gen. Bo Mya has
stated that he will ask the oil companies to pay a "tax" to
ensure the safety of their pipeline.
Until now, Thai authorities have assumed the KNU to be hostages
to their continued toleration. But it appears that the enormous
profits some Thai officials hope to make and the even greater
fragility of the pipeline have turned the Thais, the SLORC and
the oil companies into the hostages of the ethnic groups.
There are at least two problems the Karens will have to overcome
before they can think about "taxing" the pipeline however.
First, there is almost certainly a clause in the contract Total
and Unocal signed with the SLORC which prohibits them from even
talking to the opposition groups, much less paying them to
continue their revolution. The clause is one likely reason the
companies have refused to even talk with the ethnic groups whose
land is being taken for the pipeline. Unocal denies the clause
exists but it is in at least one other oil exploration contract
BurmaNet has obtained and is likely to be in this contact as
well.
The second reason is probably more telling. Initial reports of
the killings were confused simply because of the number of groups
with both the opportunity and motive to attack the pipeline
workers made determining who did it akin to a mystery novel.
There are Karens, Mons, ABSDF, Tavoyans and even a detachment of
Arakanese who operate in the area, any of which should be able
to sabatoge the pipeline. Keeping all of them either paid off
or at bay is likely to be a far more difficult task than Unocal
and Total first supposed.
*********************DEATH ON THE PIPELINE********************
BURMANET: PIPELINE DEATHS BODE ILL FOR REFUGEES
12 March 1995
If the killings ultimately lead to another round of refugee
outflows, they will be arriving at a spectacularly bad time.
According to a well-informed source in the opposition, the
National Security Council chief's personal representative,
Xuwicha Hiranyaprueck, is saying that the Thai government will
shortly begin a rapid repatriation of Karen refugees. Xuwicha
returned from Rangoon two weeks ago and immediately began
flogging his latest plan. Xuwicha is promising that the Ministry
of the Interior will soon begin a headcount in the refugee camps,
counting Buddhists, Christians and "KNU hardcores." Those
willing to go back will be promised a year's rice rations and the
remaining "hardcores" will be treated as bandits. The
repatriation is supposed to begin before the current dry season
ends.
Whether all this will come to pass is not yet clear. As the
opposition source put it, "Given that Mr. X. [Xuwicha] is rather
a psychotic kind of person, it is hard to tell whether he is
telling you something because he wants you to think he is
powerful, or if he is really in a position to do it." Although
he was hopeful that Xuwicha would be proven wrong, the spokesman
noted that "he [Xuwicha] come up with a story and twelve months
later it comes true."
*********************DEATH ON THE PIPELINE********************
REUTERS: FIVE GAS PIPELINE WORKERS KILLED IN BURMA ATTACK
11 March 1995
[Reuters/BKK Post]
Five members of a natural gas survey team were killed and 11
wounded by heavily armed attackers on Wednesday near the village
of Kanbauk in Burma, the French oil company Total said yesterday.
The victims were Burmese nationals, Total spokesman Joseph Daniel
said in Paris. The wounded have been taken to Rangoon.
The attack was carried out by a "solidly armed force" and
occurred as the Burmese workers were carrying out preparatory
work on the project, Daniel said.
The pipeline is being built by Total and California-based Unocal.
When completed, it will carry gas from the coast of Burma to
Thailand, going through areas of southeastern Burma in which
Karen and Mon ethnic-minority guerrillas operate.
"We have no idea who is responsible for the attack, and no one
has claimed responsibility," Daniel said.
A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department of the Karen
National Union (KNU) said the Karen attacked two battalions of
Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
on Tuesday, but did not know if that attack was related to the
pipeline incident.
"We can confirm that the KNU troops attacked two armed SLORC
battalions of the 7th and 10:45 am," the spokesman told Reuters
in Bangkok. "But we do not know the results of that attack."
He said the KNU attack was in a village called Kon Bauk, which
could be the same as Kanbauk (Burmese words transliterated into
foreign languages are often spelled differently.]
Daniel said the attack occurred near the western end of the
planned pipeline and away from Burma's border with Thailand.
The Karen guerrillas, who are seeking autonomy for the Karen
people, object to the pipeline, saying the revenue will reinforce
the position of the military rulers now in power in Rangoon.
Under a 30-year agreement signed last month between Thailand and
Burma, Thailand will buy 525 million cubic feet per day of
natural gas worth 10 billion baht ($400 million) from Yadana,
Burma's largest known offshore gas field.
Burmese opposition groups have threatened to disrupt construction
of the pipeline or attack it after it has been completed, but KNU
leader Bo Mya played down those threats earlier this week in an
interview with Reuters.
"The Karens never said we would destroy the gas pipeline." We
only said it is not right to build such a huge project while the
civil war is still going on," he said.
In a statement last month the KNU said it would welcome
construction of the pipeline when the war was over.
Human rights workers on the Thai-Burmese border say thousands of
Mon and Karen villagers have been relocated to clear the way for
the pipeline.
Meanwhile, nine Karen refugees, including a community leader and
his family, were seized in a camp in Thailand by members of a
Karen guerrilla splinter group and forced back to Burma, refugee
leaders said in Mae Sot yesterday.
The kidnappings were the latest in recent weeks involving members
of the DKBA, who joined forces with Burmese government troops
after mutinying against leaders of the Christian-led KNU in
December.
In a separate incident two refugees were shot and killed when
DKBA members entered another camp and tried to rob some of the
inhabitants, the officials said.
*********************DEATH ON THE PIPELINE********************
BF/DBSA: CALL FOR CALM AFTER PIPELINE DEATHS IN BURMA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Dr. Carol Richards
310-451-4493
March 10, 1995
News Editors, Business Editors
Los Angeles--March 10, 1995-- The Burma Forum and the
Democratic Burmese Students Association, Los Angeles based
activist groups working for democracy and human rights in Burma,
have appealed for calm after five employees of Frenc oil giant
Total were reportedly killed in Burma. The five were surveyors
on a project to build a natural gas pipeline from southern Burma
into Thailand. Los Angeles based Unocal and the military rulers
of Burma are also partners in the project.
Unocal has come under heavy criticism for its business
dealings with the Burmese military, which is accused by the
United Nations and the U.S. State Department of "flagrant and
systematic abuses of basic human rights, including killings, rape
and forced labor.
"The level of violence in the project area was already
shocking, and we hope that this sad incident will not lead to
more suffering for the people living there, at the hands of a
vengeful Burmese Army" says Carol Richards, coodinator for the
Burma Forum. "For months we have been been urging the
companies to have some dialogue with the local people (members
of the Mon and Karen ethnic groups), who are having this project
rammed through their homeland at bayonet-point. The people are
so desperate."
In January, Unocal president John Imle warned that there
would be violent retaliation against anyone who tried to stop the
project. "If you threaten the pipeline there's gonna be more
military. If forced labor goes hand and glove with the military,
yes, there will be more forced labor. For every threat to the
pipeline there will be a reaction" said Imle, quoted in the
February 13 Bangkok Post.
"The ethnic groups and pro-democracy activists have been
searching for a peaceful path to national reconciliation, but to
date the SLORC's response has been to use force to bring the
pipeline project to fruition" said Khin Maung Shwe of the DBSA.
"We remain committed to the principles of non-violence put forth
by Aung San Suu Kyi." Awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize for Peace,
Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for
Democracy, won 1990 elections overwhelmingly, but the results
were never recognized by the military. Aung San Suu Kyi is in
her sixth year of house arrest, while other NLD leaders have been
jailed or driven into exile.
In related news, Reuter reports the U.S. State
Department, in an official statement on March 8, threatened to
downgrade relations with Burma due to a lack of progress on
democratization, human rights, and narcotics
suppression.
"The ethnic groups and pro-democracy activists have been
searching for a peaceful path to national reconciliation, but to
date the SLORC's response has been to use force to bring the
pipeline project to fruition" said Khin Maung Shwe of the DBSA.
"We remain committed to the principles of non-violence put forth
by Aung San Suu Kyi." Awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize for Peace,
Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for
Democracy, won 1990 elections overwhelmingly, but the results
were never recognized by the military. Aung San Suu Kyi is in
her sixth year of house arrest, while other NLD leaders have been
jailed or driven into exile.
In related news, Reuter reports the U.S. State
Department, in an official statement on March 8, threatened to
downgrade relations with Burma due to a lack of progress on
democratization, human rights, and narcotics
suppression.
Contact: Dr. Kyaw Win 714-831-2000
Dr. Carol Richards 310-451-4493
*********************DEATH ON THE PIPELINE********************
KNU: ON THE BURMA-THAILAND NATURAL GAS PIPELINE
February 24, 1995
Statement by KNU Foreign Affairs Department on Burma-Thailand
natural gas pipeline
For immediate release, 24-2-95
Burma's ruling junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC) recently signed an agreement with the Government of
Thailand for the sale of gas from Burma's off-shore Yadana field
to Thailand. The project involves the construction of a 400km
pipeline by two foreign companies, Unocal of the US. Total of
France. Because of misleading statements made by representatives
of Unocal and the SLORC concerning the military and human rights
situation in the vicinity of the pipeline, the KNU would like to
clarify its position concerning the pipeline, which will be built
through its Mergui-Tavoy District.
The SLORC has been planning to extract natural gas from the huge
reserves in the Andaman Sea and sell it to Thailand since early
1990. The project has resulted in massive human rights abuses,
forced labour on the related Ye-Tavoy railway construction and
forced relocation of many villages.
There are countless Mon and Karen refugee testimonies to this.
Both the Mon and Karen ethnic groups have produced reports
documenting this appalling situation in the area marked out for
the pipeline construction.
Mr. John Imle, President of Unocal was quoted (Bangkok Post 11-2-
95) as saying that human rights abuses and SLORC military action
in the Mergui-Tavoy area and the consequent movement of refugees
fleeing to Thailand were a result of threats to the pipeline
project by Mon and Karen rebels.
He said,
"If you threaten the pipeline there's gonna be more
military. If forced labour goes hand and glove with
the military, yes, there will be more forced labour.
For every threat to the pipeline there will be a
reaction".
The KNU would like to make it clear that human rights abuses by
the SLORC military and forced re-location of the civilian
population date back to early 1991 when the original plan for the
pipeline was changed from a route through 3-Pagodas Pass to a
more southerly route emerging to Thailand at Nat Ein Taung (Ban
Ei Tong) near Thom Pha Phum, Kanchanaburi Province.
.../2
Beginning at this time in 1991 SLORC troops stepped up military
activities along the pipeline route. Karen village leaders were
summoned and ordered to relocate their villages to non-Karen
areas. Nine (9) Karen villages were deserted, the population
either leaving their land to go to the new place or fleeing to
Thailand to become refugees.
At the same time SLORC troop activities were stepped up and in
late 1991 (19-12-91) they occupied one of the KNU Mergui-Tavoy
District Township offices at Nat Ein Taung. Following this the
migration of refugees to the border has increased steadily as
villagers felt insecure and dispossessed of their land and
gardens.
The SLORC troop build-up has been continuous since 1991, and in
early 1994 had 21 infantry and light infantry battalions, 4
artillery units and an airforce squad in the district, compared
with only 5 battalions in 1990.
The time leading up to the final signing of the gas contract
between SLORC, Unocal, Total and PTT (Thailand), has seen the
offensive assume new proportions with the unfolding of "Operation
Nat Min" (Spirit King), the objective of which is the total
destruction of rebel forces in the area and the securing of the
pipeline against attack. The operation is scheduled to run from
December 1994 until July 1995.
Since December 1994 several thousand civilians have been rounded
up for porter duty with the military (most recently at Mergui),
paddy seized from villages in the Po Klo River area of Tavoy and
villagers forced to flee to the jungle for safety. 40 houses were
looted and destroyed and 300 people left homeless and hungry.
By late 1995 SLORC troops of the 25th Battalion had advanced
close to the Tenasserim River resulting in 1,400 people fleeing
across the border to Thailand at Bongti, near Kanchanaburi. At
present there are 1,600 people evacuated from 4 villages along
the Tenasserim River camped in make-shift shelters near the Thai
border at Bongti, while the civilian population has started to
leave the Po Klo River villages to seek safety closer to the
border.
These people have not simply been displaced by threats against
the pipeline by rebel forces but because of a consistent policy
of the illegal SLORC regime to clear the entire area of Karen and
Mon people and to establish a wide security zone parallel to the
pipeline. That is why, with regard to rebel threats to the
security of the pipeline, SLORC's Ambassador to Thailand, U Tin
Winn, was able to state recently that,
"there are no such rebels. They are just 'ungrouped
people', who cannot pose such a threat."
The KNU and the KNU's Mergui-Tavoy District wish to state clearly
that they are not opposed to the pipeline per se but oppose any
business venture that strengthens the illegal SLORC's hold on
power and hence fuels the civil war. With the establishment of
conditions for peaceful resolution of the country's problems the
KNU will welcome and cooperate fully with any business activity
that serves to improve the living conditions of the Karen people
and that does not abuse internationally accepted standards of
human rights nor have detrimental effects on the environment.
The KNU strongly urges the concerned companies associated with
the pipeline project to note the true facts of the case. The
KNU's Mergui-Tavoy District Chairman, Saw Kwe Htoo, is ready to
welcome representatives of the companies involved at any time and
arrange interviews with people who have fled the area.
********************DEATH ON THE PIPELINE********************
BKK POST: TEXACO, OTHERS JOIN GAS RUSH IN BURMA
8 March 1995
THE Rangoon junta has contracted three foreign oil firms,
including US giant Texaco, to expand gas exploration off the
coast of Tenasserim, state-run media report yesterday.
The agreement, signed Monday, awarded Texaco, Britain's Premier
and Japan's Nippon Oil the rights to "block m-10" adjacent to
offshore territory which the consortium has already acquired, the
New Light of Myanmar said.
The foreign petroleum group, represented Monday by Texaco
regional director Patrick Mc Guire, has already struck
commercially feasible gas reserve in burma's Yedagun field, in
the gulf of Mattaban.
The report quoted Burmese energy Minister Khin Maung as saying
Monday that negotiations were under way to sell gas from Yedagun
to Thailand, which agreed last year to buy gas from the yadana
field, also in the Martaban gulf. The Yadana field is current
being developed by US petroleum company Unocal and Total of
France.
The New Light of Myanmar Oil and Enterprise (MOGE) for an
offshore exploration licence. Myanmar is the official name
of***********************INSIDE BURMA***************************
AP: FOREIGN INVESTMENT RISES DRAMATICALLY IN BURMA
10 March 1995
Associated Press
Rangoon: Foreign investment has risen dramatically in Burma, with
oil companies accounting for the bulk of the US$2.4 billion
committed last month, the government said yesterday.
The Foreign Investment Commission said France was the largest
investor with US$1.05 billion, or 44 per cent of last month's
total. It was followed by Singapore, Thailand and the United
States. The big jump in February was largely accounted for by the
more than US$1 billion invested by Total Oil of France in the
development of a natural gas pipline with the state-owned Oil and
gas Enterprise, it said.
In addition to oil and gas, hotels, tourism and mining were the
most attractive areas for foreign investors.
The commission said Singapore has invested a total of US$265
million and the United States US$203 million.
Mounting foreign business interest in Burma has come despite
attempts by human rights activists to block economic ties with
the souteast Asiasn nation because of its human rights record.
In its report, the commission said other significant investments
came from Australia, Austria, Bangla-
desh, Britain, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea,
Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the Netherlands.
Burma. (BP)
************************************************************
NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
ABSDF: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT
AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
AW: ASIAWEEK
Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. EQUALS US$1 (APPROX),
BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
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
KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION
Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET
106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL
6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL
MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN
MNA: MYANMAR NEWS AGENCY (SLORC)
NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA
NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER,RANGOON)
NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY
RTA:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP
SCB:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
SCT:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL
TAWSJ: THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
UPI: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
**************************************************************