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Information Sheet No. A -0078(I)



                        Information Sheet
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No. A -0078(I)                                    Date 19-7-97

International Neem Network Workshop Commence           		

		The International Neem Network Workshop jointly sponsored by the Forest
Department of the Ministry of Forestry, and Forest Resource Division of the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) began at the International Business
Centre in Yangon on the 28th of July. 22 developing countries from Asia,
Africa and Central America are now actively participating in this Network.

		Though Neem is not yet included in the large scale commercial and
industrial plantation programs, it is widely cultivated by the local people,
especially in the drier parts of the country for multiple domestic uses such
as fodder,fuelwood, timber, medicine, pesticide, mosquito repellent,
fertilizer, lubricant and gum. It is also a general practice to store grains
mixed with Neem leaves so as to cope insect pests.

		It is a species growing well in the arid area greatly connected with the
afforestation of the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar. To prevent deforestation
and environmental degradation ?The Greening Project for the Nine Districts in
the Dry Zone of Central Myanmar? has been launched with full fervour.

		Representatives of various countries exchanged views on the finding after
conducting researches on the usefulness of neem. The workshop will be held
till 31 July.

*****

Japanese Cardiologist Team and Cardiac Unit of Defence Services General
Hospital Jointly Treat on Arterio-Sclerosis

		The Cardiac Unit of Defence Services General Hospital in cooperation with a
visiting cardiologist team of Shiga Hospital in Kyodo, Japan, treated
patients suffering from arteriosclerosis at D.S.G.H from 21-25 July.

		Japanese Cardiologist and Myanmar Cardiologist first diagnosed 16 patients
using a special X-ray machine. They next treated seven patients suffering
from the disease using balloon catheter. Five of the seven patients were
treated with the use of Coronary Stent.

		The patients who received specialist treatment included both service
personnel and civilians. All of them are reported to be well.

		The Cardiac Unit has been cooperating with specialist teams of Japan,
Singapore and England and this is the 19th of its kind in six years.

*****

Handing Over Ceremony of Diesel Electric Locomotives Purchased from the
People's Republic of China

		A ceremony to hand over nine (2000) HP diesel electric locomotives
purchased from China National Complete Plant Import and Export Yunnam
Corporation of P.R.C was held at Yangon Railing Station on the 28th. of July.
		Myanma Railways signed a contract with Complant on 10 April 1995 to
purchase nine (2000) HP diesel electric locomotives, ten freight cars brake
vans, twelve ordinary class passenger coaches, two 60 ton diesel rail cranes,
and locomotive, carriage and wagon spare parts, machinery and equipment.

*****

Office Calls in Yangon on the 28th. of July

1.	 Minister for Hotels and Tourism Lt.Gen. Kyaw Ba received Professor of
International Hospitality and Tourism (USA) Mr. Karl Lian at his office.
		
2.	Minister for Energy U Khin Maung Thein received Vice Chairman and Managing
Director of Nissho Iwai Corporation Mr. Y Aikei and party at his office.

3.	 Minister for Rail Transport U Win Sein received China National Complete
Plant Import and Export Co. Chairman of the Board Mr. Fan Quanmu and
President of Complant (Yunnam) Mr. Zhang Lian Ju at his office.
		
4.	 Minister for Mines Lt Gen. Kyaw Min received Minister of Trade of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam Mr. Le Van Triet and party at his office.

NOTABLE QUOTES

(a)	?---Narcotics production has grown in Burma year after year, defying
every international effort to solve the problem.? Statement given in Kuala
Lumpur by U.S secretary of State Ms. M.Albright.

(b)	?---Is there really a 'macro-dictatorship' in Myanmar, reaping riches on
the backs of American Junkies ? Nonsense- SLORC was being made the scapegoat
for America's failed war on drugs.? Argument givenby drug experts in Myanmar
in the special report of 3-6-97 Asia Times.

(c)	?---But that's a phony argument. The key factor in 1988 was that the U.S
decertified Burma and stopped its drug assistance. The U.S was providing
about 80 percent of the funding for fighting drugs, so naturally when the
money dried up, opium production increased. But rather than admit their
error, the U.S is blaming SLORC. It's a witchhunt.? Statement given by one
western official in Yangon in the special report of 
3-6-97 Asia Times.

(d)	?---The Burmese were extremely cooperative with U.S law enforcement
during the time I was there. They provide major assistance. The problem was
the limited amount of assistance we could give the Burmese.?

	?---There are a lot of accusations that SLORC is involved in narcotics, but
no one's produced any evidence- so where's the smoking gun.? Mr. B.Broman,
served in Myanmar for 2 years in U.S Embassy. Spent several decades
investigating narcotic trade in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before
being posted to Myanmar in 1994.

(e)	?---Another point that western governments tend to forget is that it is
often some of their past colonial, or superpower, actions that have given
rise to many of Myanmar's current problems. For example, the British
introduced the production of opium into the northern Burmese states in the
nineteenth century ( and in India ) to increase supplies for the opium trade
with China, which they had also created earlier- it is interesting to note
that Britain was then more developed in both democratic and industrial terms
than Myanmar is today! 

	After World War II, the CIA not only encourage the production of opium in
this region to help finance its, and its KMT allies' activities but also to
finance considerable arms supplies to the KMT and the various ethnic groups
in northern Burma. It claimed that such tactics would block further Communist
expansion in Asia; What made this behavior even more suspect, and ultimately
incompetent, was that during this period two U.S ambassadors to Burma,
William J. Seabald and David McKey, resigned in protest because they were not
kept informed of their government's activities in this drug producing area.
There is no doubt that these activities sowed the seeds of the current drug
production problem in northern Burma. Furthermore, although it is not a
well-publicized fact, in 1995 a former Drug Enforcement Agency attache',
Richard Horn, stationed in Myanmar, sued the U.S State Department and the CIA
on the grounds that they were deliberately subverting his, and the
government's anti-drug efforts, thereby denying 'Burma any credit for its
drug enforcement efforts.'

	Let us now consider the politically relevant charge against the country,
namely this drug trade. It is indeed a delicate subject. According to some
published accounts, 80 per cent of the heroin that lands in the USA has been
generated from the poppy fields of Myanmar. The U.S government, with its
enormous resources (financial and otherwise), should have started providing
aid and assistance years ago in helping 
eradicate this drug problem instead of playing political games. The U.S has
for years given massive aid and technical assistance to the governments of
drug-producing countries in Latin America and elsewhere. Third world Myanmar,
however, has been forced ( until recently ) to bear the burden of drug
control alone. Despite the negative international press coverage, it should
be recognized that its government has been in the forefront in halting the
narcotic trade in its own country, as the result so clearly demonstrate.?
Extract from Asia Pacific: Its Role in The New World Disorder. Revised and
updated version." Myanmar (Burma)" by M.S. Dobbs Higginson.

(f)	?---While other countries are the principle source of the supply the U.S
is the dominant source of demand. It is laughable to pretend that just one
side of this equation can and need be dealt with.? (Drugs: Interdicting the
flow) from the Washington Post (14th. July 1997)

(g)	?---Myanmar Government has made unprecedented commitments of new
resources--- in law enforcement, treatment, prevention efforts, education and
rehabilitation programs and had to sacrifice 700 lives of her soldiers
fighting against narcotic traders.?  Police Major General Soe Win, Secretary
of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (Myanmar).

(h)	?---The western nations especially the United States is for political
reason deliberately ignoring Myanmar's efforts and achievement in the
narcotic eradication sector.? Lt.Gen.Khin Nyunt (Secretary I of the State Law
and Order Restoration Council)  

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