Burma: Call for oil majors to stop funding the junta

As a bill seeking to cut Burma’s military regime off from one source of revenue–gemstones–goes to the U.S. Congress, activists are also calling for the same principles to be applied to oil companies.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Thea Mei Lee, Policy Director and Chief International Economist at the U.S. labor group AFL-CIO, said that foreign investment gives additional power to the military regime instead of democracy and freedom for the Burmese people.

“The principal foreign investors in Burma: the oil companies Chevron and Total have provided hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to the military regime,” Lee said.

YouTube video: Protest outside a Total service station in Cardiff, October 2007

“Their project, the Yadana pipeline, transfers the vast majority of its gas to Thailand while providing scant benefit to Burmese people in terms of energy or jobs.”

The Yadana pipeline has also been linked to the use of forced labor and forced relocation for villagers, said Lee who has also been leading support for Burma’s democratic movement for more than 25 years.

“A clear, definitive, comprehensive” cutoff by the U.S. to the military regime must be seen in order to gain international and regional collaboration, said Lee.

Meanwhile, the proposed new U.S. sanction, the Block Burma JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2007, seeks to ban the import of Burmese gems into the United States.

Speaking at a Congressional briefing, Brian Leber, an expert on the Burmese gem trade, estimated that 90 percent of the world’s rubies and 98 percent of its jade comes from Burma.

Burma’s military regime has majority control over the Burmese gem industry, said Leber, who is also president of Leber Jeweler Inc. and founder of the Jewelers’ Burma Relief Project.

“The only ones I have found who argue against strengthening the sanctions against the gem stones are the gem dealers themselves who benefit directly from trade with the government,” he told the committee.

“These are the same gem dealers who have unprecedented access to mines that normal outsiders cannot have. You must have friends in that government to get the access they have and they hope to continue that strong friendship.”

U Maung Maung, General Secretary of the National Council for the Union of Burma, said the Block Burma JADE Act would target the regime’s revenue directly,

“All the mining sectors in Burma have been cut up into blocks of land. And those blocks, if you want to be involved in the gem mining business in Burma, you have to go and buy the contracts from the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings which was set up by the military and it is 100 percent owned by the military,” U Maung Maung said.

Also speaking at the briefing, Jennifer Quigley, Advocacy Coordinator for the U.S. Campaign for Burma, said that Burma’s military regime only cares about two things: money and power. Although 40 percent of Burma’s budget is spent on the general elites, the military regime devotes less than 1 percent of its GDP to health and education combined, Quigley said. While 90 percent of the Burmese people live under the poverty line, the ruling generals have built a luxury resort town with a manmade beach, she said.

“Incentives targeting development and humanitarian assistance for the regime hold no value to Burma’s generals,” she told the Congressional Human Rights Caucus meeting in Washington, Nov. 1.

“The Block Burma JADE Act targets the regime’s money, both the money it earns and the money it already has. Burma’s junta earns money from almost all economic activity in Burma. Even if the business is not regime-owned, the generals apply 30 to 50 percent tax on revenue to ensure that they get their share of the profits,” Quigley said.

Activists are planning a campaign aimed at Total this week:

The Burma Global Action Network will be holding a protest of Total through faxes and phone calls on Wednesday, November 7th, during the release of Total’s third quarter earnings.

Total Corp. holds a 31.2% share in the Yadana natural gas project in Burma (also known as Myanmar). According to the Burma Global Action Network, Total pays large sums in gas royalties to the current military junta. Protesters are demanding that the corporation place these royalties in escrow for the legitimate elected government of Burma, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. These funds are allegedly being pocketed by the military leaders.

In addition to the escrow, protesters will also be asking Total to increase contributions to humanitarian efforts in Burma through accredited non-government organizations.

Total replies to the campaign (which isn’t new, just being renewed following the military crackdown on monk-led protest) on its Web site:

The Yadana project is a favorite target of activists who oppose the current government in Yangon and advocate a boycott of the regime. They denounce the repressive nature of the government and its human rights violations. Their criticism is often based on allegations made by exiled dissidents and is relayed by a number of NGOs and Western media. To create a wider audience for their cause in Europe and the United States, the activists’ message has included attacks against the Yadana project and Total, as well as against other Western companies that operate in the country.

Related links:

Recent posts on Burma and the crackdown on this blog

Background about the Yadana pipeline project and Unocal

Total’s FAQ on the Yadana pipeline

EU and India: Making a mockery of the arms embargo?

Burmese Army Deserters Talk to RFA