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Total's and Unocal's Diastrous Gas



Subject: Total's and Unocal's Diastrous Gas Pipeline (part I)

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>From the Mon Information Service Bangkok
May 1996

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French Total Co's and American Unocal Corp's
Disastrous Gas Pipeline Project
in Burma's Gulf of Martaban

Part I

Total Company of France is the concessionaire of the over 26,000
kilometre surface area in Burma's Martaban Gulf, including the
Yadana field which contains a total of estimated 5.8 trillion cubic feet
of untapped natural gas. The Unocal Corporation of the United States
is the partner of the French Total Co. in developing the Yadana gas
project. The French Total Co, the operator of the project, holds 52.5 %
interest, while the American Unocal Corp has a minority interest of
47.5 %. Thailand, in critical need of energy to supply its power plants
in the country, becomes a main buyer of the natural gas from Burma.
Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding with the Burmese
ruling SLORC regime in September 1994 for importing the natural
gas from Burma being developed by the Total-Unocal consortium. 

The Total - Unocal consortium has planned to start transporting the
natural gas from the Gulf of Martaban in Burma to Thailand by 1998,
via a pipeline to be built across the ethnic Mon and Karen territories in
which the Burmese ruling SLORC regime only has little or no control
so far. To ensure SLORC's control over these guerrilla war zones is the
very first and foremost stage of the materialization of the gas pipeline
project. Territorial security for the gas pipeline project is completely
indispensable to the Total - Unocal consortium as well as all other
parties involved in the project. In terms of securing and facilitating the
foreign business projects in Mon State and Tenasserim Division,
SLORC has already created enormous social disaster in the regions -
social disaster which is tantamount to hell. Total Co and Unocal Corp
must therefore be brought to account for all human rights violations
committed by SLORC and its military in specific terms of securing and
facilitating their gas pipeline project. 

According to latest information from sources of parties involved in the
gas pipeline project, the whole length of the pipeline will be 704
kilometres. Namely, 354 kilometres undersea from the Yadana gas
field to Yebyu Township's Ohnbingwin village, 50 kilometres on land
from Ohnbingwin to the Thai border at Ban I Tong (Nat Ein Taung in
Burmese), and 300 kilometres from Ban I Tong to the Thai power
plants in Rachaburi Province. The pipeline is 17.5 milimetres thick
and 36 inches in diametre. The pipeline is double walled and the empty
space between the two walls will be jacketed with water. According to
well - informed local sources, the Burmese ruling SLORC regime
brought to Yebyu Township's Pyingyi village some amount of double
walled iron pipes at the end of February 1995 as well as 10 trucks on 2
March 1995 to facilitate the pipeline construction . The on - land part
of the pipeline in Burma is reportedly to be laid underground. The
Total - Unocal consortium reportedly suggested to lay the pipes three
feet under the ground, whereas SLORC was said to prefer to lay the
pipes at least 10 feet under the ground for the gas pipeline's more
security from possible sabotage by ethnic guerrilla forces. 

Total Co's field managing personnel (French citizens), having their
accommodation in the 4 newly constructed wooden houses at
Ohnbingwin and Hpaungdaw villages in Yebyu Township, have been
heavily guarded by SLORC's local 405th and 273rd light infantry
battalions. The Burmese SLORC troops are also thickly stationed at
Sinku, Ohnbingwin, Legyi, Mawgyi and Paungdaw villages in Yebyu
Township securing the gas pipeline construction. During the first
quarter of 1995, the Total Co field managing personnel reportedly
informed the local SLORC military authorities of its disapproval of
their use of forced (portering) labour. This makes clear that the
members of the Total Co field personnel themselves have time and
again witnessed the use of forced (portering) labour by the local
SLORC military keeping guard over them and their pipeline
construction. Subsequently, in trying to hide its use of forced portering
labour from the sights of the Total Co field personnel, the local
SLORC military has effectively played a trick by taking back the loads
from the forced civilian porters before passing the Total Co field
personnel's houses (between Ohnbingwin and Kanbauk villages) and
again re - putting the loads on them afterwards, according to well -
informed local sources. This proves that the presence of these foreign
business companies, Total Co and Unocal Corp, is not bringing any
help for the local people living in the gas pipeline project area in terms
of improving their grave human rights conditions. 

The Total Co field personnel appears very much generous towards the
impoverished local community but is far from realizing the realities of
the situation under which the local people have to live. A day in March
1996, a member of the Total Co field personnel, out of charity, gave
away 200 US dollars to a local day labourer (Karen or Tavoyan man),
who was then wearing worn - out clothes and carrying passengers'
loads at the boat port near Pyingyi village in Yebyu Township. The
poor labourer happily received the 200 dollars, expressing his whole -
hearted thanks to the generous French man. But, this was not the end
of the story. As soon as the generous French man left the place, one of
the accompanying SLORC soldiers of the local 273rd battalion came
and just forcibly took away all the 200 dollars from the poor labourer's
pocket, according to eyewitnesses. The generous French man from
Total Co, however, does not seem to have known about the tail end of
this story. 

Total Co, via the local SLORC military authorities, has also provided
over 40 village headmen from 20 villages within the gas pipeline
construction area in Yebyu Township with a salary of 4,000 Kyats per
person per month in return for their taking of some light responsibility,
including the gathering of the labourers, in support of the gas pipeline
construction. But, the over 40 village headmen did not receive the
payment as the local SLORC military officers forcibly took it away.
The details of the story is as follows: The local 408th Light Infantry
Battalion's commander, namely Major Hla Moe, called the over 40
village headmen to a meeting with him in his encampment near and in
the west of Hsinku village at Kadaik on 23 February 1996, saying that
he would deliver the payment to them. All the over 40 village headmen
happily came and together met the SLORC major accordingly. Major
Hla Moe did deliver the payment of 4,000 Kyats per person to all of
the over 40 village headmen, at the same moment also making them
respectively sign a paper for evidence that the payment for them had all
been delivered. But, this was not the end of the story. The SLORC
major (Major Hla Moe) continued to chat with all the village headmen
for about half an hour after the delivery of the money then left the
room. No sooner had Major Hla Moe left than a local SLORC
intelligence officer of the same battalion (LIB 408th), namely
Lieutenant Aung Zaw Min, entered the room and forcibly took back
all the payment money (a total of more than 160,000 Kyats) from the
over 40 village headmen's pockets. In the end, the over 40 village
headmen all had to come back their homes empty - handed. The Total
Co, however, does not seem to have known about the tail end of this
story. 

Total Co has also provided high compensation to up to 30 local Mon,
Karen and Tavoyan farmers from Yebyu Township, whose farmlands
were partly or wholly taken over for the gas pipeline construction. The
amounts of the compensation Total Co has given to the 30 local
farmers range from 500,000 to 3 million Kyats, according to well-informed local people. That is, in compensation for the respective
farmlands lost to the gas pipeline construction Total Co has generously
paid their owners more than 10 times higher than their actual salable
prices - even a cashew nut tree being priced 2,500 up to 5,000 Kyats
by Total Co. The local farmers were inexpressibly happy with the
Great Compensation given by Total Co. But, this was not the end of
the story. The local 408th Light Infantry Battalion required all the
compensation-recipient local farmers to contribute to it half of the
compensation money they had received from Total Co, saying that the
entire land of the country is only owned by the Government (SLORC).
In the end, those local farmers, who had their own farmlands lost to the
gas pipeline construction only got half the compensation money paid
by Total Co. Total Co, however, does not seem to have known about
the tail end of this story. 

Foreign investments in Burma only strengthen SLORC's longer stay in
power to further oppress the Burmese peoples and do not benefit the
Burmese civilian population in general. International human rights
activist and environmentalist community at large, concerned about the
serious human rights violations and inevitable ecological degradation
related to the Total - Unocal gas pipeline project, has kept putting
pressure on Total Co and Unocal Corp to pull out from Burma.
However, Total Co and Unocal Corp have both stubbornly persisted in
furthering their economic deals with the Burmese military dictatorship
SLORC, respectively arguing that their gas pipeline project is not
relevant to any human rights violations committed by the SLORC and
Burmese Army. In a 25 March 1994 letter, Total Co stated: 

Since April 1993, our engineers have conducted several surveys along
the whole length of the Burmese pipeline route on foot, by car and by
helicopter. The area is very sparsely populated. There are few villages
and the region is perfectly calm. No population displacement should
occur anywhere along the pipeline route. 

The gas pipeline area, which Total Co said its representatives had
thoroughly surveyed, clearly means the pipeline route as such and is
far smaller than the actual size of the area and population affected by
the cruel inhumane measures taken by SLORC in terms of securing
and facilitating their gas pipeline project. The local ethnic Mon, Karen
and Tavoyan communities have suffered significantly increased forced
labour including forced porterage, and forced relocation or
displacement conducted by the Burmese SLORC military in terms of
securing and facilitating the foreign business activities in the region,
amongst whose the Total - Unocal gas pipeline project is by far the
largest foreign investment. A total of estimated more than 150,000 of
civilians in Mon State and Tenasserim Division - men, women,
children and the old alike - have consistently been subjected to the
arduous slave labour on the construction of the 110 - mile - long Ye -
Tavoy railway route and the several new SLORC army encampments
along this railway route from October 1993 up to the present time.
That is to say members of these 150,000 labourers' families have also
suffered all the effects of the consistent slave labour on the railway
construction. By the construction of the Ye - Tavoy railway route and
the several new local army encampments along this railway route,
SLORC has clearly tried to strengthen its military control in the region.
This railway will be a great support for SLORC in its fighting with the
ethnic guerrilla forces in the region, because the railway will not only
greatly facilitate its deployment and infiltration of troops into the gas
pipeline project area but also make it significantly more difficult for
the ethnic guerrilla forces in the region to move from land to sea as the
SLORC troops are present along the 110 - mile length of the railway
as well as the parallel highway from Ye through to Tavoy. Without
this strategic railway, relatively it will make SLORC almost
impossible to overcome the ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan guerrilla
forces active in the gas pipeline area. The implementation of the Total
- Unocal gas pipeline project will not advance until and unless SLORC
can practically provide adequate security for it. So, Total Co and
Unocal Corp must also be responsible for the consistent slave labour
and all its effects having been faced by the hundreds of thousands of
innocent human beings due to the construction of the 110 - mile - long
Ye - Tavoy railway and the building of the several new SLORC army
encampments along the railway route, which are the obvious cause and
reason of SLORC's attempts to secure and facilitate their gas pipeline
construction and on which their gas pipeline project is to depend vitally
in practical terms of security. 

The area for the gas pipeline route, as Total Co says, may be truly
sparsely populated and no population displacement should occur due
to the laying of the pipeline as such. But tens of thousands of the ethnic
Mon, Karen and Tavoyan villagers across the region have already been
subjected to forced relocation and displacement by SLORC in terms of
strengthening its control in the region in which the foreign oil
companies - namely Total Co of France, Unocal Corp of the US,
Premier of the UK, Texaco of the US and Nippon Oil of Japan - have
had their business activities. For this, all these foreign oil companies
must share with SLORC any international condemnation and
punishment. Since the end of 1990, SLORC has forcibly relocated or
displaced at least 30,000 ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people from
more than 50 villages in Yebyu, Thayet Chaung and Tavoy townships
of Tenasserim Division as part of the notorious strategic "Four Cuts
Campaign" in its all - out efforts to isolate and paralyze the ethnic
insurgency movements across the country by means of cutting them off
any links and supports of their own ethnic civilian communities. 

The Burmese Army generally regards members of the rural ethnic
communities as sympathizers and supporters of the ethnic guerrilla
forces and has normally abused and ill - treated them in various ways.
The Burmese army has further classified the peripheral ethnic areas of
the country as "Black Areas" which literally means "free-fire zones",
and has flagrantly violated any basic human rights of the local
inhabitants. Gross human rights violations by members of the Burmese
army such as forced relocation and displacement, forced labour
including forced porterage, arbitrary arrests and torture, summary and
extrajudicial killings, rapes, looting and plundering, and so forth - have
been the order of the day in the so-called Black Areas. Under such
circumstances, hatred and fear of the Burmese (SLORC) Army have
naturally increased and deeply ingrained within these rural ethnic
communities. As a result, these ethnic communities have lacked any
faith and confidence in the Burmese Army. Members of these local
ethnic communities always run away into hiding whenever Burmese
troops come to their villages and only dare to come back their homes
afterwards the Burmese troops return. Those of the ethnic villagers
who cannot escape at the arrival of the Burmese troops normally fall
victim to any sorts of possible human rights abuses by the Burmese
troops. The Burmese Army has always tried to strengthen its control
on the classified Black Areas by means of consistently terrorizing the
local ethnic non - Burman communities. Already having such these
atrocious attitudes towards the rural non - Burman ethnic communities
in the country, the SLORC and Burmese Army is ready to increase its
terrorizing campaigns against them should it be encouraged and
necessitated to do so. As a matter of fact, Total Co and Unocal Corp
already have encouraged and necessitated SLORC to secure the area of
their gas pipeline project at all cost, thereby automatically providing
SLORC with reasons to increase its terrorizing of the local ethnic Mon,
Karen and Tavoyan villagers. 

Total Co and Unocal Corp can in no way neglect the fact that their gas
pipeline project area comprises the classified Black Areas and the local
Mon, Karen and Tavoyan villagers are generally regarded as
sympathizers and supporters of the Mon, Karen and Tavoyan guerrilla
forces by the SLORC and Burmese Army. It is apparent that the
SLORC and Burmese Army, in its own paranoiac ways, also considers
these local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan communities as possible threats
against the security of the gas pipeline project. Having to secure this
billion - dollar gas pipeline project against possible sabotage by the
ethnic guerrilla forces active in the area, the cruel SLORC and
Burmese Army would undoubtedly be double cruel towards these local
ethnic communities. Total Co and Unocal Corp have reinforced the
Burmese SLORC Army's motives and motivation to violate the basic
human rights of the ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people inhabiting
their gas pipeline area. The Burmese local 405th and 273rd light
infantry battalions, closely securing the gas pipeline construction, have
consistently forced the local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people into
labour to construct army buildings for them, to clear logistic routes for
them between Ohnbingwin village and the concession blocks of Total
Co, as well as to carry loads of ammunition and other materials for
them in specific terms of securing and facilitating the Total - Unocal
gas pipeline construction. 

The ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people living at 6 villages in
Yebyu Township - namely Eindayaza, Mawgyi, Legyi, Hsinku,
Minthar and Hsinswe - were required to compensate a total of 100,000
Kyats for the casualties the Burmese local 408th battalion's troops had
suffered in an attack by (most possibly) Karen guerrillas on 7 and 8
March 1995 - attack which happened within the gas pipeline
construction area between Yebyu Township's Ohnbingwin and
Michaung Aing villages. The local SLORC military extorted the
100,000 Kyats' compensation from the 6 villages after making an
unjust accusation that these villages supported the guerrillas because
the villagers were not able to inform it beforehand about the Karen
guerrillas' presence and movement in the area. But, the actual fact is
that the local villagers did not even know about the guerrillas'
movement in the area - for they only concentrate on their own work as
it is not their own business to serve as informers for either the Burmese
Army or the guerrilla forces. 

In the name of securing the Total - Unocal gas pipeline project, the
local SLORC military has already extrajudicially executed at least 4
innocent local civilian Karen men after bringing against them a
completely unjust charge of harbouring the Karen guerrilla forces. The
details of the story is as follows: The gas pipeline construction area
between Yebyu Township's Ohnbingwin and Kanbauk villages was
shelled in an attack by most possibly Karen guerrillas on 2 February
1996, but not resulted in any damages or casualties. Following this,
SLORC's local 408th battalion arrested all the 6 members of a civilian
Karen family living in Eindayaza village after having found out that
the guerrillas cooked and ate on the Karen family's farmland prior to
their 2 February attack on the area. The 408th battalion executed the
Karen family's 4 men, the over 60 - year - old father (namely U Saw
Gabalar) and his 3 sons (whose names not known yet) after cruelly
torturing them. According to well - informed local sources. the 408th
battalion has kept on detaining the family's 2 women, the mother and
the daughter (whose names not known yet). In actual fact, the cooking
and eating on their farmland by the Karen guerrillas only happened
without the knowledge of any members of this victimized Karen family
as they were all staying at their home in the village at the time. 

After the execution of the 4 civilian Karen men, on 18 February 1996
the 408th battalion's commander Major Hla Moe, accompanied by his
troops, came to 4 - 5 Mon villages around including Chabon and Me
Taw, and threatened the villagers like this: 

If our troops get to fight near your villages with either the Karen or the
Tavoyan insurgents in the future, we will kill you villagers. We have
gathered our soldiers just for killing people. 

(Editor's Note: The Burmese Army has had no fighting with the Mon
guerrillas since 29 June 1995 as the SLORC - NMSP cease fire
agreement has been in effect. That is why the local SLORC
commander, Major Hla Moe, did not then (need to) say to the villagers
about the Burmese SLORC troops' possible fighting with the Mon
guerrillas.) 


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