Myanmar activists protest Korean-Indian gas pipeline

April 18, Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Myanmar (Burmese) activists protested Tuesday outside the South Korean embassy in Bangkok against the participation of Korean firms in a gas-pipeline project in western Myanmar that they claimed would help sustain the country's military dictatorship.

About 30 activists waving banners reading, "Daewoo out of Burma," passed a protest letter to South Korean embassy officials that blasted the Korean company Daewoo for investing in the Shwe Gas Project in Arakan State to pipe natural gas to Bangladesh and India.

"It will be the largest source of foreign income in the history of Burmese governments," said the protest letter, estimating that the project would generate 3.2 billion dollars in profits for the State Peace and Development Council, as Myanmar's military regime calls itself.

Daewoo has a 60-per-cent stake in the Shwe Gas project. Other investors include KOGAS of South Korea (10 per cent), ONGC Videsh of India (20 per cent) and GAIL of India (10 per cent.)

"We're targeting Daewoo because it is the largest stakeholder in the project," said Aung Marm Oo, protest leader and project director of the Shwe Gas Movement. "If they withdraw, then the project can't continue."

Aung Marm said opponents to the pipeline project were also concerned that it would lead to violations of human rights and environmental destruction in Arakan.

"There were a lot of similar violations in the course of the Unocal pipeline project in the 1990s," he said.

US-based Unocal came under international criticism for its role in laying a pipeline from its gas reserves in the Gulf of Martaban to eastern Thailand, reportedly leading to gross human-rights violations of ethnic minority groups living in the area, including killings, systematic rape, forced labour and dislocations of villagers.

Natural gas sales to Thailand have proven an important source of income for Myanmar's cash-strapped military regime, which faces economic sanctions from many countries for its poor human-rights performance and failure to implement political reforms.

"Despite economic sanctions imposed by the United States and some European countries, the Rangoon junta has been able to survive on the revenues derived from exporting the country's inexhaustible natural resources, especially natural gas and teak to countries in its favour, and offering slave or cheap labour to foreign companies and enterprises," said the protest letter to the South Korean embassy.

After the activists had handed over their letter, Thai police rounded them up and took them to a nearby police station for questioning and to check whether they were carrying proper identification papers.