TOTAL's Desmarest fails to assure s

[cd@xxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: TOTAL's Desmarest fails to assure shareholders

Something more than 9%: =

TOTAL's President Theirry Demarest fails to satisfy shareholders over Burma=
 investment

By Dawn Star,  UVI.net / Euro-Burmanet, June 4 1996

Paris - He came, he saw, but he didn't conquer the sceptical minds of the T=
OTAL shareholders thinking about about their 9% growth in 1995 over the pre=
vious year, and the 8.70 francs paid to each dividend in their stock portfo=
lios. In a subdued  crowded Paris' La Defense auditorium a stone's throw fr=
om the TOTAL TOWER headquarters, TOTAL President and Chief Operation Office=
r, Thierry Desmarest, looking trim and  younger than his age, assured inves=
tors with figures that easily rolled off his lips. =


But when it came to the question of Burma and the Yadana gas pipeline deal =
with the anti-democratic military regime, he stumbled, and fell into embarr=
assing contradictions of the company's investment in Burma, mirrored by the=
 ironic publicity campaign mounted in the French national press yesterday. =


In major french newspapers like Le Monde and Lib=E9ration, TOTAL took out t=
hree full pages of ads, starting with the a message " Should a multinationa=
l sacrifice its objectives, including respect for human rights?"

Shareholders remained incomprehensible, many of them revolted when interest=
ed shareholders criticized TOTAL's president what to them seemed to be a mi=
ndless waste of company funds for a message that did not ring with the trut=
h. Mr. Desmarest defended the publicity campaign in the press saying that T=
OTAL did not want "to submit to the banality of institutional advertising "=
=2E =


At the same time he did not speak about the content of the ads : " In South=
 Africa, TOTAL shareholders discovered how TOTAL  implemented a policy of m=
ultiracial integration well ahead of the end of apartheid. " TOTAL  South  =
Africa, founded in 1954, had one black employee in 1990. =


According to company reports,  "TOTAL has a strong presence in South Africa=
 where it holds a sizable market share." =


When questioned about the effect of Iraq selling 700,000 barrels of oil on =
the world market, TOTAL, while admitting it will abide with the US governme=
nt on  upholding  sanctions, Mr. Desmarest scoffed at the current sanctions=
 move in the US Congress by Senator D'Amato (NY) to which he referred as " =
political maneuvering during an presidential election year ". Nonetheless, =
it was international economic pressure brought on by South Africa sanctions=
 that finally ended apartheid. =


Mr. Desmarest did not appear to remember history, and showed even less resp=
ect for it . Following  questions from the shareholder audience over the in=
coherent publicity campaign of TOTAL South Africa,  Dietrich, of UVI/ Euro-=
Burmanet, asked Mr. Desmarest about the TOTAL  - Burma connection : =


" Regarding your publicity in the French press yesterday on TOTAL South Afr=
ica, let me briefly say that it was the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Bishop =
Desmond Tutu, of South Africa, who called Burma " the South Africa of the 9=
0's. TOTAL's investment in Burma raises the question of the company's strat=
egic investment interest on its billion dollar Yadana pipeline project, of =
which some US$400 million a year is to go to the anti-democratic military r=
egime each year for the next  thirty years - actually your own corporate sp=
okesman Joseph Daniel says that the actual sum is 'more or less half that a=
mount'. Now you know that during the last two weeks, the military has arres=
ted hundreds of democratic supporters of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, she too winn=
er of the Nobel Peace Prize. Allegations in the world press - Wall Street J=
ournal, Washington Post, New York Times, AP, ...and press here in France,  =
over the use of forced forced labor by TOTAL on the pipeline have gone unan=
swered by TOTAL. "

" Now the world is waiting for you Mr. President, to speak about this alleg=
ed use of forced labor, documented by human rights organisations around the=
 world, including the UN Commission for Human Rights. In the face of these =
allegations, and the appeal by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to stop foreign investm=
ent in Burma, what is the position of TOTAL on the use of forced labor on t=
he TOTAL pipeline project, and are you going to continue investment in the =
military regime in Burma? "

Mr. Desmarest responded in understatement and contradiction. "We stayed in =
South Africa when it was not popular to do so," explained TOTAL's president=
=2E  "We implemented social programs and community works which have since f=
ound an important place there. And I recently met South African leaders who=
 praised our committment and what we did."

"It was expected that the question of Burma would be raised ", he replied t=
o  the packed auditorium near the Great Arch, in Paris, La Defense.  "But w=
e never comment on the internal politics of a country.  This is true about =
Burma or wherever TOTAL is engaged in business.." Neither a denial or affir=
mation. A no comment with comment response.  Shareholders were waiting for =
more than that as a response. On the esplanade of the entrance to  sharehol=
der convention hall, InfoBirmanie volunteers had passed out "Letter to Tota=
l shareholders: What is Total doing in Burma  " citing the crimes and alleg=
ations that has engulfed the Yadana pipeline in endless controversy.

"Concerning our implmentation, " he added,  "we follow all international la=
ws, and the laws of the country we invest in.  In Burma we have given fair =
salaries and medical treatment aimed at improving the welfare of the people=
=2E " TOTAL's reasoning was that embargoes -  " Cuba and Asia thirty years =
ago "  -have produced contrary results, and do not contribute to the develo=
pment of a country. "That never happens to a country left in isolation ". A=
 large part of the shareholder audience then exploded in applause, the most=
 enthusiastic uproar from a crowed otherwise muted by the litany of corpora=
te facts and figures. =


No, Burma was not forgotten today at TOTAL's annual dividend rendezvous bet=
ween shareholders, journalists and the top corporate management. But while =
Thierry Desmarest held on to the standard TOTAL line, he went even further =
away from the truth of allegations of human rights violations and TOTAL com=
plicity in the crimes of the Burmese generals, while the people become more=
 isolated and impoverished under the tyranny of a regime that can count onc=
e again on the tacit approval of the french multinational oil company. =


On leaving the assembly it was apparent that many in the auditorium were no=
t of the opinion of their president. One veteran TOTAL worker, a financial =
"controller", who participated in the Unocal - TOTAL negotiations, was clea=
rly upset by the failure of Mr. Desmarest to respond openly and clearly to =
the allegations of forced labor.

When presented with a copy of the TOTAL Denial Report, prepared by the Sout=
heast Asia Information Network (SAIN) and EarthRights International (ERI), =
he said he had never been to Burma but would read the document closely.  "I=
 am a member of Amnesty International " he said. "It is terrible what is ha=
ppening in China now. Everyone wants to do business there, but do they reme=
mber Tiananmen? "

But he did not know that China had sold over two billion dollars of arms to=
 Burma.

" What is the name of that woman? "

" Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, " I said.

" She must be very courageous to stand up against those generals? ", said t=
he TOTAL worker.

" She is courageous and wise and she speaks the truth. That is why the Burm=
ese military are afraid of her. You should read her book, 'Freedom from Fea=
r'.  She wrote it for you, and your President. Maybe you will then understa=
nd what the struggle for freedom in Burma is really about. "

" I will look for the book. Thank you. I will, " said the Total worker, who=
 smiled, then turned and  left the hall enriched by something he knew was p=
riceless, and that which could not be sold to a hall of shareholders intere=
sted in only 9%...