Jump to full article: The Guardian (uk), 2003-11-07
Author: Terry Macalister
Intro: Human rights campaigners were celebrating one of their biggest corporate victories last night after British American Tobacco agreed to quit Burma in a significant climbdown.
The world's second largest cigarette group said it was leaving the military-run nation, which is also known as Myanmar, with regret and insisted it was only doing so after an "exceptional" request from the British government.
BAT, whose deputy chairman is former chancellor of the exchequer Kenneth Clarke, has tied up an agreement to sell its stake in Rothmans of Pall Mall Myanmar to a Singapore investment house.
The deal aims to safeguard jobs at its factory outside Rangoon and the continued marketing of BAT brands in Burma. . . .
"This is a huge victory," said John Jackson, director of the Burma Campaign UK. "They had to be dragged out kicking and screaming but at least they are out. If a company like BAT can be forced out of Burma any company can be."
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