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BBC : Singapore ships arms factory



Wednesday, July 22, 1998 Published at 10:19 GMT 11:19 UK 
Singapore ships arms factory to Burma 

Defence analysts say that a Singaporean company has built and shipped an
arms factory to Burma, which the military regime is using to produce
assault rifles to protect a controversial gas pipeline. 

The magazine Jane's Defence Weekly says the plant was built last year by
Chartered Industries of Singapore with the aid of Israeli consultants. 

It says the multi-purpose factory is currently making rifles for troops
guarding the Yadana gas pipeline project, which will link the offshore
fields in the Andaman Sea to a power station in Thailand. 

Two foreign firms -- UNOCAL of the United States and Total of France --
have been criticised for their involvement. 

Human rights activists say the Burmese regime is suppressing ethnic Karen
rebels through whose land the pipeline runs. 

>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service