British American Tobacco meeting hijacked by Myanmar protestors ( April 15, 2003 )


	Tuesday April 15, 11:10 PM British American Tobacco meeting hijacked by Myanmar protestors LONDON, April 15 (AFP) - Protesters picketed the annual general meeting of British American Tobacco on Tuesday and handed out leaflets to shareholders criticising the cigarette giant for investing in Myanmar. Members of the Burma Campaign UK -- Myanmar was formerly known as Burma -- handed a letter to shareholders entering the meeting outlining the pressure group's opposition to BAT's cigarette factory in Myanmar, a joint venture with the country's military dictatorship. Among around 50 demonstrators, including Myanmar exiles dressed in military uniforms, picketed the AGM, Burma Campaign UK said. "The campaign owns some shares, so we were able to ask a lot of questions about the investment in Burma, which they seemed very uncomfortable about," said Burma Campaign UK spokesman Mark Farmaner. The campaign charges that BAT is acting immorally by going into business with Myanmar's junta, which has ruled the country for more than four decades and is condemned by rights groups as one of the world's most repressive regimes. Burma Campaign UK has directed particular criticism at BAT's deputy chairman Kenneth Clarke, who is a former British government minister and remains a Conservative member of parliament. Clarke himself appears to have some misgivings about the venture, according to a letter he wrote to a member of the public which was passed on to Burma Campaign UK. In it, Clarke said he had concerns about "collaborating with an extremely unpleasant regime which is totally contrary to our notions of civil liberties and democracy", according to a copy released by the pressure group. A spokesman for BAT, which produces brands including Rothmans, Dunhill, Pall Mall and Lucky Strike, said the firm understood and respected concerns about human rights. "However, we do not believe that the best way forward is for businesses to withdraw from countries whose governments' human rights records have been criticised," he said. Hopes were raised about an improvement to political and human rights in Myanmar after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from lengthy house arrest almost a year ago. But subsequent talks between the junta and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) have produced few tangible results. NLD won a landslide victory in Myanmar's 1990 general election, but the generals ignored the result and arrested the charismatic opposition leader.

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