Total's and Unocal's Disastrous Gas

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Total's and Unocal's Disastrous Gas Pipeline (part II)

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

Part II

Total Co reportedly directly provides salaries to the local SLORC military personnel undertaking
the specific responsibility of securing the gas pipeline construction, currently including the 408th
and the 273rd light infantry battalions: Total Co is said to provide the soldiers (of these battalions)
with a monthly salary of 6,000 Kyats each, but it is not known whether the commanders/ officers
are provided with the same rate of salary (6,000 Kyats) by Total Co. According to well informed
local sources, the SLORC troops of different local battalions have taken the responsibility of
securing the gas pipeline construction in turns so that all of them can have equal access to the
salary opportunities provided by Total Co. As a matter of fact, Total Co, by directly providing
salaries to the trigger - happy local SLORC military personnel, has consciously encouraged and
strengthened the cause of human rights violations and the suffering of the ethnic Mon, Karen and
Tavoyan communities in the gas pipeline project region. 

It is very clear that the security of the gas pipeline project, not to say the gas pipeline project itself,
poses a constant threat against the security of the local inhabitants. The lives and well - being of
the local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan villagers is to be endangered by the SLORC and Burmese
Army as much and as long as the security of the gas pipeline project is in danger of destruction by
the ethnic guerrilla forces. The SLORC and Burmese Army clearly puts the security of the Total -
Unocal gas pipeline project above the security of the local population. The current NMSP -SLORC cease fire does not necessarily bring any help to relieve the Mon villagers living in the gas
pipeline area from possible abuses by the Burmese SLORC Army. Despite the current NMSP -
SLORC cease fire agreement, the Burmese SLORC Army can still abuse the local Mon villagers
whenever the gas pipeline area is attacked by the Karen or Tavoyan guerrilla forces. The SLORC
and Burmese Army would not hesitate to kill off any local Mon, Karen or Tavoyan villagers so
that the gas pipeline construction might seem safe. 

In mid June 1995 (before the NMSP - SLORC cease fire agreement), Mon relief workers were
able to interview a Mon man from Me Taw village which was situated in the gas pipeline project
area, asking him about the current situation in the area. During the interview, the Mon man said: 
The Burmese army brought a lot of pipeline construction materials to the river bank area opposite
of my village in February 1995. That side of the river bank is announced as restricted area by the
Burmese military and no villagers are allowed over to that side. The place where the pipeline
construction materials are kept is called "Kin Taung" (literally Hill of Guards) and is heavily
guarded by the Burmese military. I think that the Burmese army is greatly worried about the Mon
guerrillas' possible sabotage against the gas pipeline construction, because the Mon guerrillas are
also able to come to my village Me Taw. This was why the Burmese army forced my village to
vacate from the site in March 1995, trying to cut off any links between the Mon guerrillas and the
Mon villagers at Me Taw. Many Burmese troops have also stationed at all other villages around
Me Taw for security of the gas pipeline 
construction. 

My village Me Taw had been required to pay a total portering / labour fee of 20,000 Kyats per
month to the Burmese military until February 1995. Since February and onward, the Burmese
military doubled the portering / labour fee on Me Taw to 40,000 Kyats per month, saying that it
was also necessary for the villagers of Me Taw to pay the cost of hiring 10 1abourers working as
their substitutes on the construction of its army buildings on Heinze Bok island. However,
according to those Tavoyan villagers who had to work for the Burmese military on Heinze Bok
island, they never received any payment for their labour. The Burmese military does not want the
Mon villagers at Me Taw to go and work themselves at such a very important place like Heinze
Bok island, as it always suspects them of supporting and / or spying for the Mon guerrillas. The
Burmese military also required Me Taw village to contribute 20 baskets of polished rice per month
in terms of feeding the labourers on Heinze Bok island. As a result, many of the villagers of Me
Taw even had to sell off their own cattle and farmlands to be able to pay these taxes. 

Total Co also stated that the pipeline itself would be done by international contractors using local
manpower as much as possible, "providing remunerative job opportunities". This statement of
Total Co is superficial and does not reflect a true picture of the realities in the gas pipeline project
region. 

A road (which would be a part of the planned Ohnbingwin - Nateintaung truck road) was cleared
between Yebyu Township's Paungdaw and Ohnbingwin villages for one and a half months
successively from the beginning of May 1995 by a total of about 100 hired local labourers who
were provided with a daily wage of 200 Kyats each by Total Co. The road is about 10 metres
wide. This route clearing work was suddenly put to a standstill when the Total Co field managing
personnel left the area en masse on a matter of urgency in mid June 1995. The Total Co field
managing personnel only arrived back to the area in the beginning of November 1995, according
to well - informed local sources. It should herein be noted that Total Co was only able to provide a
45 - day remunerative job opportunities for 100 or so local labourers during half a year's time from
May through November 1995, whereas a total of tens of thousands of the local inhabitants were
consistently subjected to the slave labour on the construction of the Ye-Tavoy railway route, on the
construction of several new army buildings for the local SLORC military, and in carrying
ammunition and food supplies on the local SLORC military's regular and irregular patrols around
the area. 

Since the return to the area of its field managing personnel in November 1995, Total Co has
increased the number of hired local labourers working on the gas pipeline construction to 300 or
so, providing them with the same payment of 200 Kyats per person per day (6,000 Kyats per
month). These 300 labourers are said to be hired from about 20 villages in Yebyu Township.
These hired local labourers have to work reportedly from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., providing their own
food. The payment originally provided by Total Co is said to be 9,000 Kyats per labourer per
month but it is reduced to 6,000 Kyats by SLORC or its local level authorities, according to
unconfirmed information. The labourers, however, are said to be still happy and satisfied with the
reduced monthly wage of 6,000 Kyats - for it is the very first time highest rate of payment they
have ever received through their lifetime. The work these hired local labourers are given to do
reportedly includes the construction of the pipeline route and roads (with the help of some
bulldozers), the construction of some army buildings for the local SLORC military personnel
undertaking the responsibility of securing the gas pipeline construction, the accompanying of the
Total Co field managing personnel on their field trips across the whole project region on foot, by
car or helicopter, as well as the giving of portering services for the local SLORC troops on their
patrols for security of the gas pipeline construction, according to local sources. 

To facilitate the gas pipeline project, a truck road to connect Ohnbingwin village and the Thai -
Burma border Nateintaung is also being constructed by Total Co with the daily use of more than a
hundred of the hired local labourers as well as with the help of tens of modern road - construction
machines such as trucks, bulldozers, caterpillar tractors and etc., according to local sources. This
planned truck road starts at Medaingda village then goes stretching to Hpaungdaw, Ohnbingwin,
Pyingyi, Eindayaza, Michaung Laung villages, then Thontanku (a place at which a small SLORC
military unit is currently stationed) and ends at Nateintaung. The foliage clearing, ground levelling
and ground hardening work on the Medaingda - Hpaungdaw - Ohnbingwin - Eindayaza section of
the planned truck road have nearly been completed since March 1996, according to local sources.
The necessary materials for the road and the pipeline constructions are said to be mainly
transported by ship via Heinze river and unloaded at Pyingyi port. The SLORC troops are thickly
stationed in Ohnbingwin area, where the centre of the field operations and essential facilities for
the gas pipeline project are located. Tens of susceptible local villagers have also been selected,
trained and armed by the local SLORC military and are employed by Total Co to serve as an
assistant security unit for guarding the gas pipeline construction from Ohnbingwin area, according
to reliable local sources. 
More than 150 local people from the villages in the area south of Heinze river - including The
Chaung, Kyweku, Maw Ngan, Thingan Taw, Kaung Hmu and Hpaungdaw villages - have
consistently been forced to contribute free labour on the construction of army buildings and other
military facilities on Heinze Bok island for the Burmese SLORC Army since December 1995,
according to well - informed local sources. These more than 150 labourers have reportedly also
had to provide their own food to work. (Editor's Supplement: It should herein be noted that Total
Co and SLORC have both worked in support of the gas pipeline project; and that Total Co, on its
own part, has always provided (fair) payment to the people where and when it uses their labour;
but that the SLORC and Burmese Army, well known for its practice of using forced labour, has
almost never provided any payment to the people even where and when it uses their labour for
supporting the gas pipeline project on its own part.) 
Total Co ran an advertisement on the SLORC - controlled English and Burmese newspapers on the
first week of August 1995, inviting educated Burmese national candidates to be its trainees and
employees to work on its Yadana natural gas business. However, favoritism is reportedly rampant
through the process of selecting candidates as far as corrupt SLORC officials are involved in it.
Amongst the applicants, only those who are well - connected to the SLORC officials, those who are
active members of the SLORC - patronized Union Solidarity and Development Association
(USDA), and those who can afford to bribe the SLORC officials concerned are said to have
relatively much greater chance of winning the competition. Under such these circumstances, the
local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan villagers - being impoverished, mostly uneducated and not
sophisticated - are naturally not destined to gain the chance of equal good employment on the Total
- Unocal natural gas business. Being simply regarded as sympathizers and supporters of the Mon,
Karen and Tavoyan guerrilla forces by the SLORC and Burmese Army, the local Mon, Karen and
Tavoyan villagers will in no way be allowed to belong to the inner working circle of the project
either. It is certain that only those educated Burman nationals from the urban area, who are well
connected or are active members of USDA, will seize most places of the good employment on the
project. But, only a small fraction of the local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people can, at best,
become the blue - collar workers on the project. So, how the Total - Unocal natural gas project will
benefit the local population in general still remains broadly open to question. 
The local Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people are vulnerable to any destructive effects of the big
Total Unocal natural gas project since they are not allowed to participate in the decision - making
process of the project which will inevitably affect their own life - social, economic, cultural or
whatever. With the possible massive infiltration and settlement of the economically more powerful
outsiders (the project's employees and their families who are endowed with the innate favours of
SLORC) and in order to make room for them, understandably many of the impoverished local
Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people will then have, either voluntarily or against their own will, to
give up their own lands / livelihoods and disperse. 

Out of their deepened poverty and as they are persuaded with high prices, some attractive local
Mon, Karen and Tavoyan girls from Yebyu Township, including those as young as 13, 14 years,
have had to give the services of themselves as prostitutes for the French citizen Total Co field
managing personnel, reportedly also with the consent of their own parents, according to well -
informed local sources. The moneyed Frenchmen from Total Co were said to give each of the girls
US 200 dollars for their each - time sex services. However, this should pessimistically be seen as
something of capitalization on and exploitation of the poverty stricken local community by the
economically powerful outsiders - for the local women and girls will not necessarily have to
succumb to such persuasion should their community be prosperous. As the news of the highly
priced sex services has spread, sadly, many more of the poverty - stricken Mon, Karen and
Tavoyan households across the area, out of desire for making the so - called miraculous earnings,
are said to have likewise become willing and ready to send their own young girls into the
prostitution (for the Total Co field managing personnel). This signals a strong possibility of the
growth and establishment of a sex industry in the area in which many women and girls from the
poverty - stricken local community will have to work to make a living, once the economically
more powerful outsiders enter to settle and mass in the area. Such situation will also affect the
social cultural life of the local ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan communities. 

The New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Karen National Union (KNU) are the two main ethnic
armed opposition groups active in the gas pipeline area and both of them threatened to blow up the
gas pipeline previously. However, NMSP agreed on a cease-fire deal with SLORC on 29 June
1995 and has accordingly had to restrain from any sabotage attempt against the gas pipeline
project since the cease - fire agreement is in effect. NMSP does not seem, on behalf of its Mon
people, to have had any say on the gas pipeline issue so far, but it does have, under the terms of its
current cease - fire agreement with SLORC, to pull its military out of Tenasserim Division, where
the entire on - land part of the Total - Unocal gas pipeline is to be built through. 

Despite the current NMSP - SLORC cease - fire agreement, the local SLORC military
commanders and soldiers are still deeply hostile to NMSP and have even expressed their hostility
publicly in intimidating the local population. To point out, on 17 September 1995 at about 4 p.m.,
some SLORC troops from the local 273rd battalion stationed at Pyingyi village in Yebyu
Township, led by a second warrant officer (whose name not known by local Mon villagers then),
arrived at nearby Kywethonnyima village and called the Mon villagers to an immediate meeting
with them in the village. At the meeting, the SLORC second warrant officer told the villagers like
this: 

We don't know how your NMSP guys are called by other people, but we just call them 'rebels'.
Why ever do they come to this village Kywethonnyima? This village is not their place, but ours.
We will fight them if they come to this village with arms and without our advance knowledge in
the future. They are just our enemy. You villagers are also strongly warned not to associate with
these rebels in the future, or you can be arrested and put into jail under the Act 144. This is just
our last warning to all you villagers. If you are found being still associated with these rebels next
time, I will shoot and kill you myself, then throw your bodies into the river. What ever could you
villagers do to us, if so? xxxxx Who ever of you villagers dare refuse to pay the required charges
for the (Ye - Tavoy) railway construction? You must pay it unconditionally by tomorrow's 12
noon. You must also contribute 200 baskets of polished rice per month for us. xxxxx  When ever
does your NMSP own two cars ? But we have plenty of cars, trains, planes and (etc.). How ever
could your NMSP fight with us? 

(Editor's Supplement: On (17 September 1995) that same day's noon time, NMSP's Governor of
Yebyu Township, namely Nai Lyi Tamah, came to Kywethonyima and explained to the local Mon
villagers that they would no longer need to pay any "portering fees" or other labour - related
charges to SLORC as a result of the NMSP - SLORC cease fire agreement. That is, the local
SLORC second warrant officer and his troops came few hours later than the local NMSP governor,
to tell the Mon villagers as mentioned afore.) 

Again, some SLORC troops from the same local battalion (LIB 273rd), led by Warrant Officer
Myint Oo, called the Mon people from 4/5 villages in Yebyu Township to a meeting with them at
Day Sajacng (local Mon name only) village on 9 October 1995. At the meeting, the SLORC
warrant officer strongly warned the Mon villagers not to be associated with NMSP by threatening
them with legal punishment if they fail to obey the orders. At the meeting, the SLORC warrant
officer also explained to the Mon villagers the meaning of SLORC's current cease - fire agreement
with NMSP this way: 

It is only a matter of the gas pipeline project's security that the Government (SLORC) has agreed
upon cease fire with NMSP currently. However, we will have to re - fight with NMSP one of these
days, according to our higher Tactical Command. 

SLORC's current cease fire agreement with NMSP, like all its cease fire agreements with the other
ethnic armed groups in the country, is only a truce based on some reciprocal short - term interests
of the two warring parties, neither of which can envisage its life span. There is no peace in Burma
and the Total - Unocal gas pipeline area is a most troubled spot in the country presently. The
current cease fire agreements between SLORC and all these ethnic armed groups have not brought
any sign or possibility towards bringing about genuine lasting peace in the country. Under the rule
of the brutal military dictatorship, fear and hopelessness have pervaded the entire country. So,
Total Co and Unocal Corp, the high - principled international business companies, ought to be
ashamed to continue to claim and argue that there is peace in Burma for doing their own lucrative
economic businesses and that their gas pipeline project region is perfectly calm. 

Following the NMSP - SLORC cease - fire agreement, KNU has also entered several rounds of
initial talks with SLORC in order to strike a similar cease - fire deal, but has achieved no
considerable progress so far. SLORC reportedly demands KNU to abandon Tenasserim Division,
in which KNU has its 4th brigade presently and the Total - Unocal gas pipeline project is also
located. But, KNU is said to be still disagreeing to accept this demand of SLORC. Even if KNU
happens to enter into a cease - fire agreement with SLORC and pull out of Tenasserim Division,
the 400 - strong ethnic Tavoyan (and Merguian) army of the Myeik - Dawei United Front
(MDUF) and the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), which are refused a similar
cease - fire offer by SLORC, are still present in the region as a constant threat against the security
of the Total - Unocal gas pipeline project. Because SLORC has repeatedly stated that KNU is "the
last ethnic armed group remaining to return to the legal fold", without taking account of the other
remaining (small) armed opposition groups. Even if SLORC agrees with the whole of the armed
opposition groups in the country for such these divisive temporary cease fire deals, this still does
not necessarily help pave the way for the achievement of lasting peace for the people in the
country. To evaluate genuine lasting peace in the country, we must only look into the situation of
the people in general and talk about their common struggles first and above all other affairs, not
the other way round.

In the name of their economic interests in Burma, both Total Co and Unocal Corp have
intentionally neglected the obvious fact that the Burmese SLORC Army's campaigns for
strengthening its control in the rural ethnic non - Burman regions have always directly hurt the
local civilian ethnic populations. In trying to strengthen and ensure security for the Total - Unocal
gas pipeline region, the Burmese SLORC Army has increased and continued its terrorizing of the
local ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people. But, Total Co and Unocal Corp have both
consistently avoided to learn the real sufferings and miseries of the people in the region of their gas
pipeline project by deliberately blinding and deafening themselves. Total Co and Unocal Corp,
through their agreement with SLORC for the realization of the gas pipeline project, have already
demanded and necessitated the SLORC and Burmese 
Army to ensure its control of the gas pipeline region, which is an integral part of the guerrilla war
zones in the country. So, Total Co and Unocal Corp must not be allowed to hide the real amount
and seriousness of the human suffering and ecological concern being caused in the region of their
gas pipeline project. The fact that SLORC is a human rights violator on its own can in no way be
used as a camouflage by Total Co and Unocal Corp to hide their social and moral irresponsibility
over the hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings living in their gas pipeline region, who
are affected directly or indirectly by their gas pipeline project. Total Co and Unocal Corp must be
brought to account for all their virtual collusion with the well - known human rights violators
SLORC and the resultant human suffering and hardship, which the local ethnic communities have
experienced in the course of SLORC's violent, long endeavor for security and facilitation of their
gas pipeline project. It has already been clear enough that the Total - Unocal gas pipeline project is
the new cause and reason of the Burmese SLORC Army's increased and continued terrorizing of
the local ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan communities in the gas pipeline region. So, Total Co
and Unocal Corp must not be allowed, through any eloquent prevarications or propaganda, to deny
or downplay the consistent claims and allegations of the grave human rights violations committed
by the Burmese SLORC Army in trying to secure and facilitate their gas pipeline construction - for
they have hired SLORC, paying several hundred million dollars, to secure and facilitate their gas
pipeline project at all cost. 

Reported in May 1996
by Mon Information Service Bangkok
1189/3 Soi Panitchakantonburi, Charansnitwong Road,
Bangkok 10160, Thailand, Tel & Fax: (02) 410 7844

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