Rangoon junta runs on Total

French oil giant Total has always justified its presence in Burma/Myanmar with the assertion that its business is beneficial to local populations. Not so, says a report entitled "Total Impact " published by Thai-American NGO Earth Rights International (ERI) on 10 September. Libération notes that ERI accuses Total and its American partner Chevron, of being the main funders of the junta, which has ruled the country since 1962. ERI has revealed that between 2000 and 2008, the site of the Yanada gas field in the south of the country enabled the junta to rake in US$4.83 billion (or €3.31 billion). "Instead of being included in the Burmese budget (…), these sums are held by the generals in secret off-shore accounts in Singapore," reports the French daily. The ERI investigation has also revealed several cases of "forced labour and executions" at the Yadana site. In conclusion Libération regrets that "Europe has always excluded hydrocarbons, and on that basis Total, from sanctions" against Rangoon.