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Oil giant Total should not withdraw from Myanmar: French FM
BANGKOK
Petroleumworld.com 10 30 07France's foreign minister said Tuesday that the people of Myanmar would suffer if French oil group Total, under fire for its investments in military-ruled Myanmar, withdrew from the country.
Speaking in the Thai capital Bangkok on a mission to rally Asian support to push Myanmar towards democracy after deadly protests last month, Bernard Kouchner said blanket sanctions were not the solution to Myanmar's plight.
"Imagine that we turn the tap off Total, who will suffer? The people of Burma and the people in Thailand. Who will replace the French? Some other people," Bernard Kouchner said, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
Total has been accused of condoning abusive labour practices in junta-ruled Myanmar, where it operates a vast gas field in the south of the country to supply power plants in neighbouring Thailand, employing some 270 people.
In late September French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged French businesses including Total to freeze their investments in Myanmar, where the military killed at least 13 people when it suppressed street protests in September.
The crackdown prompted the European Union to approve new sanctions against Myanmar, including an embargo on the export of wood, gems and metals.
But Kouchner questioned the power of Western sanctions to halt the junta's repression of pro-democracy protests, saying pressure from Myanmar's neighbours was likely to be more effective.
"I'm not so sure about the efficiency of sanctions ... I strongly believe that we need also incentives. Sanctions and something else," he said.
Kouchner on Monday proposed giving the junta an international fund -- similar to the one used to help rebuild war-torn Kosovo -- to provide economic aid to the impoverished nation.
In 2003, Kouchner wrote a private consultant's report for Total defending its presence in Myanmar, insisting the group did not use forced labour and stressing its contribution to local health programmes.
Story from AFP 30 0847 GMT 10 07
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