Total Oil is among the biggest foreign investors in Burma. Its major interest is a co-operation project with the military regime to extract gas from the rich resources of this kind in Yadana in the south of the country. A campaign to make Total withdraw from their business in this deeply repressive regime will thus represent a major blow to the regime?s economy, and thus to its ability to survive. The Burmese junta makes several hundred million US dollars a year only from its contracts with Total. Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has described the French oil company as “the biggest provider of support for the military regime in Burma”.
French authorities protecting Total in EU
More than anything, it is foreign investments that have made it possible for Burmese authorities to double the size and power of its military forces. These forces are responsible for terrible violations of human rights, including forced labour, torture and rape, not the least along pipes made to transport the gas that Total is bringing out. So far, EU?s wish to take a tougher stand against the Burmese regime has been blocked by France, who wants to protect Total’s interest in the country.
. Total openly cooperates with the military regime in Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), particularly on a gas project in Yadana in the south of the country. Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has condemned the French company. From the outset, the campaign is supported by 41 organisations, among them Norwegian Church Aid; The Future in our Hands; and the Norwegian Burma Committee, a member organisation of the Oslo Human Rights House.&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F){kind=link}