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THE NATION: Clinton urged to stop



Politics 

      Clinton urged to stop
      Yadana pipeline work

      HUMAN rights activists staged a protest
      outside the American Embassy in Bangkok
      Tuesday and delivered a letter urging the
      US president to press against the
      continuation of the disputed Thai-Burmese
      gas pipeline project. 

      In an open letter, members of the Thai
      Action Committee for Democracy in
      Burma, a confederation of democracy and
      environmental groups, urged President Bill
      Clinton to air his opposition to the Yadana
      gas pipeline project during his meeting with
      Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai in
      Washington. 

      The project is a joint venture between the
      Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and
      US petroleum giant Unocal. 

      The letter was delivered hours before
      Chuan left for Washington on a six-day
      working visit. 

      They urged Clinton to oppose construction
      of the pipeline for human rights reasons,
      and called for increased pressure on US
      businesses to withdraw from Burma. 

      ''This project has caused severe human
      rights violations along the gas pipeline
      route. Many minorities were killed, tortured,
      raped, evicted and forced to work like
      slaves,'' the letter said. 

      The pipeline, connecting Burma's Yadana
      gas field in the Andaman Sea with a power
      plant just outside Bangkok, has been
      opposed by a range of interest groups both
      in Thailand and Burma. 

      Chuan has expressed concern over human
      rights abuses and environmental
      degradation caused by the pipeline, but
      said recently it was too late to stop the
      project, which was approved by previous
      governments years ago. 

      Meanwhile, the PTT, which is building the
      Thai section of the building, held a press
      conference Tuesday to defend its actions in
      soliciting the arrest of anti-pipeline
      campaigner Sulak Sivaraksa, who was
      blocking the construction by staging a sit-in
      in the affected forest. 

      ''We had to take legal action against Sulak
      because he refused to follow the
      opponents' pledge to accept the
      committee's resolution,'' PTT Governor
      Pala Sukhavech said, referring to a
      committee chaired by former prime
      minister Anand Panyarachun which was
      charged with reviewing the project. ''He is
      the leader of two of the 88 organisations
      that agreed to abide by the ruling.'' 

      Pala claimed that his agency had followed
      the law throughout the project, holding a
      public hearing, suspending construction
      when asked and talking to opponents. The
      Anand committee, however, found that the
      project was severely lacking in
      transparency and environmental
      management. 

      ''Now we have to continue construction so
      that it is finished as soon as possible,'' Pala
      said. ''The contractor has to get into the
      forest as quickly as possible otherwise it
      will lose about US$100,000 [Bt4.4 million]
      per day.'' 

      He added that in the six-km stretch of
      pristine forest through which the pipeline is
      being laid, the contractor is charging an
      additional Bt500 million because it will have
      to narrow its working area from a width of
      20 metres to a width of 12 metres. 

      The Nation, Agence France-Presse