Boycott Success: Burma's Junta Can'

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Subject: Boycott Success: Burma's Junta Can't Pay PR Bills 


For Immediate Release:

F R E E   B U R M A   C O A L I T I O N

Burma Boycott Showing Signs of Success
Jefferson Waterman, Bain Stop Lobbying for Junta


Washington, DC - March 8 - The international boycott of companies which
support the military regime in Burma continues to show signs of success,
apparently cutting into the generals' ability to fund their massive army.  
The latest sign: the generals have been dropped by their Washington, D.C.
public relations firms, because they've been unable to pay their bills.

While the PR firms were officially hired by Burmese companies Myanmar
Resources and Zaykabar, U.S. government officials believe, and the
Washington Post reported, that they were actually working for the junta.  
Their combined fees totalled nearly one million dollars a year, according
to the Post ("Burma's Image Problem" Feb. 24, 1998).

Despite the big money spent on PR campaigns in the West, the junta
suffered a major public relations defeat last month when Western
democratic nations including the United States, France, Germany, Italy,
Spain, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, and
Denmark -- boycotted an Interpol anti-narcotics conference in Rangoon
where the junta played host.  This boycott sent a clear message that
Western governments were not fooled by the junta's PR campaign, and denote
a new level of political isolation. Burma is the largest exporter of
heroin in the world

Since seizing power in 1988, the generals in Burma have been attempting to
lure foreign investors to the country, looking for financial support for
their regime.  Dozens of companies (including PepsiCo, ARCO, Texaco,
Heineken, Ericsson, Seagram, and Motorola)  have pulled out of Burma in
the last several years, however, and others have decided against investing
in the country.  The U.S. has barred all new investment in Burma by U.S.
companies.  UNOCAL, a direct partner of the junta, remains the only major
US company in Burma.

Another sign of the generals' worsening financial situation is that the
military is unable to feed its own troops.  Army units now have to raise
their own food.  The generals' financial situation is reportedly so bad

that the government was on the verge of bankruptcy last year.  It was
bailed out last August by $130 million loans from Mitsubishi and other
Asian companies.

Financial pressure, combined with diplomatic isolation, have been
catalysts for change in South Africa, and more recently Nigeria and East
Timor.
							END

Contact: Dr. Zar Ni, Free Burma Coalition, 202-777-6009
	Dan Orzech, Free Burma Coalition, 610-650-7755