Myanmar activists urge China to halt pipeline project

BANGKOK, Sept 7 - Activists called on Monday for China to halt construction of controversial oil and gas pipelines through Myanmar, warning of instability and civil unrest if Myanmar's ruling junta continued to starve its people of energy.

Shwe Gas Movement, a group of Myanmar exiles in Bangladesh, India and Thailand, also said the military's recent offensive against ethnic rebels near the pipeline route showed the regime had no concerns about providing stability for investors.

"People across Burma are facing severe energy shortages and this massive energy export will only fuel social unrest," Shwe Gas Movement said in a report released on Monday, referring to the country by its former name.

"These resources belong to our people and should be used for the energy needs of our country."

Chronic fuel shortages triggered a series of monk-led protests in the resource-rich country in 2007, leading to the deaths of at least 31 people in the bloodiest army crackdown since a 1988 uprising.

China's largest oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corporation, is due to start construction of nearly 4,000 km of duel pipelines from Myanmar's western Arakan State to China's Yunnan province.

The deal is expected to provide the military, which has ruled the country since a 1962 coup, with at least $29 billion over 30 years.

The pipelines will supply China with oil shipped from the Middle East and natural gas from Myanmar's vast offshore reserves in the Bay of Bengal.

The Shwe Gas Movement said foreign investors faced a "perfect storm" of financial and security risks by doing business with the junta and highlighted reports of forced labour, forced relocation and extortion by government troops in the construction of a much smaller pipeline to Thailand.

Last month's incursion by Myanmar's army into northeastern Shan State, which sent tens of thousands fleeing into China, has raised fears of more clashes with ethnic minority rebels that could exacerbate a refugee crisis at its border with economic and political ally China.