Campaigners have accused two Sussex-based garden furniture firms of helping prop up a brutal military dictatorship.

Campaigners believe Alexander Rose in Burgess Hill and Eastbourne-based Lister Lutyens are supporting the notorious ruling regime in Burma. Both firms buy materials produced in the south-east Asian country.

Alexander Rose sources about ten per cent of its timber from a factory in Burma while Lister Lutyens imports teak.

Campaigners say such exports are an important source of income for the ruling regime which has been condemned by the United Nations for "crimes against humanity".

Leaders of the military junta have consistently refused to transfer power to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won a landslide election victory in 1990.

Now, Burma Campaign UK has named the two Sussex firms on its so-called Dirty List.

A spokesman said: "We are calling for targeted sanctions which will cut the economic lifeline to the regime. We believe companies on the Dirty List are directly or indirectly helping keep the regime in power."

Borge Leth, a director of Alexander Rose, defended his firm's involvement in Burma.

He said: "We agree with the campaign that the government in Burma is a cruel and indecent dictatorship. Where we don't agree is on its claim that we are helping support that regime."

Mr Leth said the factory with which they dealt bought its timber from the regime at a lower price than would be charged to firms in countries such as China or Indonesia if it was exported.

He added: "We are supporting a small factory in Burma and the people there. If it weren't for us, the government would get more money for the timber."

Nick Mottershead, managing director of Lister Lutyens in Alder Close, was unavailable for comment.

But in a letter to Burma Campaign UK, the company said it bought teak from Forest Stewardship Council approved sources in Thailand, Indonesia, Laos and Burma.

It said the amount of wood it bought from environment-friendly sources in Thailand had increased but would not say if it intended to sever its trading links with Burma.

Meanwhile, in response to claims that, by pulling out, firms would only harm ordinary Burmese people, the Campaign cited Aung San Suu Kyi.

In May 2002, she said: "I don't think we have found evidence that sanctions have harmed the Burmese people, because they have been clearly limited."

Thursday August 28, 2003