U.S commercial interests will be

[ausgeo@xxxxxxx]

Subject:   U.S commercial interests  will  be  viewed  as  acts of war.


ASIAWEEK [11.4.97]
FRONTLINES
Pipeline Pathway Cleared

SLORC  doubt  that  there is a single Karen fighters  within  seven km  of  
Ban-l-Thong, at the  Thai  border. That is the  crossing  point  for  the  
controversial  natural  gas pipeline  under  construction  that  will  make  
its  way  from  Burma's Yadana  offshore  natural gas  field into Thailand. 
And  in the  frontier  provinces  to the  north, KNU  fighters  are  holed up, 
considering  their  options. This  dry  season's particularly  harsh  SLORC  
offensive  against  their 49 year-old insurgency  hit  them  harder  than  in  
previous  years.
		In 1995, five  civilian  workers  were  killed  and  11 others  injured  
when  the  Karen  National  Liberation Army  attacked  the  joint  
France-American Total-Unocal $ 1.06 billion  pipeline project.
		Now, another  major U.S player, Texaco, as  part  of  another  international 
 consortium, is  surveying the  route  with  an  eye  to  laying  its  own  
parallel  pipeline from  a second  field in the  Andaman  Sea, called  
Yedagun. But  Texaco is  playing  it  safe_ or at  least safer _ than  Total 
or Unocal  did  at first. It has  hired a U.S company, Ordsafe, to  control  
security in the area in which it is working. Ordsafe's orders  are to  
evacuate  all  Taxaco company  personnel at the first hint  of  trouble.
		At least  half a dozen  former  members  of  the  South African  military  
make up the 20 plus Ordsafe  team. The U.S oil  companies  have  also  called 
on  their  friends In  high  places. In  Bangkok, Karen representatives  were  
summoned  by  U.S diplomats and  advised  that any  further  attacks on  U.S 
commercial interests  will  be  viewed  as  acts of war.

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