Suu Kyi to World: Don't Buy Our Oil

Aung San Suu Kyi visited the UN's European headquarters in Geneva today, and amidst pleasantries, made a serious call for the world to boycott Burma's state-run oil and gas companies. "The Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise … lacks both transparency and accountability at present," she said, speaking before the UN's International Labor Organization. Burma currently has contracts with several foreign firms, including Chevron, Total, and China's CNPC. "Quite frankly, none of us know what's in those contracts," Suu Kyi said, according to Reuters.

Suu Kyi did, however, allow that, despite having struck a deal with the junta, Total "is a responsible investor in the country" and was "sensitive to human rights and environmental issues." She also called for a "democracy-friendly development policy" coupled with various business reforms. "No country can claim genuine development until all its peoples can enjoy the basic freedoms. Freedom from want, and freedom from fear," she said, according to this video. The visit is part of Suu Kyi's first trip to Europe in decades. (More Aung San Suu Kyi stories.)