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Total denies AFP report of armed at
- Subject: Total denies AFP report of armed at
- From: cd@xxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 05 Mar 1996 06:51:00
Subject: Re: Total denies AFP report of armed attack
strider, please post on BurmaNet,
thank you, UVI.net, Dawn Star, Paris
Paris, March 5 - Responding to a published report by AFP yesterday,
TOTAL headquarters, in the business sector of La Defense, Paris, issued a
complete denial over allegations that of an attack had occurred on or near
the Yadana gas field that, otherwise, if true, threatens to seriously add to
the human rights problems already confronting its highly controversial
billion dollar consortium gas project. »
TOTAL declared that the AFP report was false, saying that "TOTAL had not been
the target of the reported atatck early February as cited by the AFP".
However, while not denying that an attack may, in fact, have occurred in the
area, the company spokesman said "it was not our immediate concern as long as
Total is not directly or indirectly involved ».
The TOTAL company added, « no one had been killed or wounded, and contrary to
the report, no French citizen was either killed or wounded. That has been
confirmed by the French Ambassador, Bernard Pottier, in Rangoon ».
« This is extremely embarrassing to TOTAL, as it is to the Burmese exile
student group that reported it to the press, » concluded the company
spokesman, referring to the exile student Burmese news agency, the ABSDF.
Nonetheless, as tensions mount on the eve of the anniverasy one year ago, in
March 1995, when the TOTAL cocmpany was attacked with five killed and eleven
wounded, TOTAL attempted to further undermine the possiblity of any real
danger to its pipeline project calling "the reported attack by an unknown
armed group" both "curious" and "bizarre".
"We really cannot comment further on what may or may not have occured, if
indeed there were local victims, as we have no proof that any attack ever
happenned", TOTAL declared.
end