Every year the Burmese military receives more than two billion dollars from sales of gas.
In the past week:
The number of people killed since the attempted military coup began two years ago reached 3,000.
The Burmese military used fighter jets to bomb a school in Karen State.
40 bombs were dropped on a single town in Chin State.
Gas revenue is helping to pay for these crimes.
Money that belongs to the people of Burma and that should be spent on services like schools and hospitals, is instead being stolen by the military and used to buy guns and bombs and jets.
The gas is sold to China and Thailand, but in the past month information has been revealed that British companies are working on gas projects in Burma.
British companies are helping the military receive billons of dollars via a Burmese government body called Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE):
A company in Bermuda, which is a British overseas territory, has just bought a huge stake in the Yadana gas project.
British insurance companies insure vessels and infrastructure in Burma’s gas industry.
A British company provides services to oil and gas companies running gas projects in Burma.
The British government has played a leading role in sanctioning sources of revenue and arms to the Burmese military. Now it must sanction MOGE, and work with international allies to help stop gas revenue reaching the military.
British companies involved in Burma’s gas industry are complicit in human rights violations committed by the military.
