Oil in Burma Fueling Oppression

KNOWN TO HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS as "AsiaÆs new killing fields," Burma is a country violently divided. The military regime which controls the country of 42 million is currently waging battles against more than a dozen ethnic insurgent groups and a student-led democracy movement. The regime, considered illegitimate by most countries in the world, faces international condemnation and pressure from the democratically elected government-in-exile to relinquish power.

The military regime, which calls itself the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), is relying on the exploitation of BurmaÆs natural resources to finance the military battles it is waging against its own people. In 1988, the regime "began to sell BurmaÆs natural resources like fast food," according to the Burma Action Group, a British human rights organization. A main item on this menu is the sale of BurmaÆs oil reserves.

With the critical assistance of multinational oil corporations, the SLORC plans to significantly expand oil production in Burma over the next several years to generate foreign currency to purchase weapons. Between 70 and 90 percent of the profits from oil and gas development will go directly to the military regime. The Burma Rights Movement for Action, an opposition group based in Bangkok, Thailand, estimates oil exploration contracts have accounted for 65 percent of the foreign investment in Burma since 1988.

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In 1988, due to worsening economic conditions and the precipitous decline in oil production, the SLORC moved to end its isolationist policies and attract foreign oil investment. As part of this move, the government reversed a 26-year policy banning foreign participation in onshore oil exploration and development, and signed contracts with nine foreign oil companies.

The nine multinational oil companies that signed the first contracts with the SLORC in 1989 included Amoco (United States), Unocal (United States), Idemitsu (Japan), Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands/United Kingdom), Yukong Oil (South Korea), Broken Hill Petroleum (Australia), Petro Canada (Canada), Croft Exploration (United Kingdom) and Kirkland Resources (United Kingdom). These firms were reported to have paid between $5 million and $8 million each in signing bonuses to the Burmese regime.

Since 1989, a number of other companies have also signed contracts with the SLORC. These include Premier Oil (United Kingdom), Nippon Oil Exploration (Japan), ELF (France), Petronas (Malaysia), and most recently International Petroleum Corp. (Canada), Apache Oil (United States), Tyndall International (United States) and Texaco (United States).

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Human rights groups argue that oil development has direct impacts on the people of Burma. A Green November 32 statement notes, "recent reports from inside Burma indicate that human rights violations are being perpetrated by the SLORC army in association with the oil companiesÆ planned and actual activities. Genocidal offensives are being carried out as part of the juntaÆs efforts to clear potential oil bearing areas of their indigenous inhabitants. ... Tens of thousands of Burmese people are being forced to labor on roads for less than subsistence wages for the benefit of the oil multinationals and the junta."

Because a number of battles are being waged on different fronts throughout Burma, there is also some conjecture about the areas which the SLORC is fighting hardest to control. Green November 32 reports, "SLORC troops have been particularly active in oil concession areas, and have launched heavy offensives in areas where concessions have been offered but not sold, such as the Kachin and Arakan States. There have been very serious human rights abuses perpetrated on local populations in association with these attempts to control the potentially oil-bearing zones."

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But as a Green November 32 statement explains, "When a multinational oil company with the financial and political influence of Texaco invests in a country like Burma, it makes it substantially more difficult to effectively pressure a government led by someone like George Bush ... into applying the sanctions that have been repeatedly and loudly called for. Obviously sanctions would not be good for those U.S. oil companies - Texaco, Amoco, Unocal, Tyndall, and Apache - that have invested so many millions of dollars in their relationship with the SLORC regime."

http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1992/10/mm1092_06.html

Well we all knew it was coming....

Just curious.