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Royal project in Doi Tung inspires



Subject: Royal project in Doi Tung inspires junta


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Royal project in Doi Tung inspires junta
DOI TUNG, Chiang Rai -- Burma now wants to repeat the success of the Thai
royal
family in promoting crop substitution for opium cultivation by inviting Thai
experts to Rangoon to impart their knowledge on the subject. 
The request was made by the head of Burma's powerful intelligence body, Gen
Khin Nyunt, who visited Doi Tung, a former opium cultivation area but on
Tuesday a landmark site of successful crop substitution and job training for
the local communities. 
Khin Nyunt, the junta's economic czar David Abel and new Foreign Minister Win
Aung were among around 40 Burmese officials accompanying Burmese leader Gen
Than Shwe on the first day of his two-day visit to Thailand. 
When asked what he thought of the project, Khin Nyunt replied: ''Very
interesting''. 
MR Disnadda Diskul, chairman of the Doi Tung Development Project, a royal
project launched 10 years ago, said he and his colleagues have been invited by
Khin Nyunt to help advise their officials on a Burmese crop substitution
programme. 
Disnadda quoted Khin Nyunt as saying that a similar project should be carried
out in Doi Muoi in Shan State. 
Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said Kyin Nyunt's request has been accepted
and
Thailand will arrange to help Burma soon. 
The Burmese government is being condemned by the international community for
not doing enough to counter narcotics production and trafficking. 
In an apparent effort to avoid anti-Rangoon protests, the Thai hosts have
arranged for talks between Than Shwe, officially known as the chairman of the
ruling State Peace and Development Council and Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai at
Doi Tung. 
Thai government spokesman Akhapol Sorasuchart described the Chuan-Than Shwe
meeting as a drug summit. Although the meeting touched on two topics --
anti-narcotics cooperation and bilateral efforts to avoid recurring violent
conflict and disputes -- the former overshadowed the talks, he said. 
Akhapol said the two governments also decided to set up a joint committee to
make drug eradication their priority. 

Akhapol said officials from drug agencies, the military, police, foreign
ministries, and other related agencies will meet in Burma soon to fine-tune
the
plan. 
Burma is seeking a long-term solution to its drug problem and claims that it
will eradicate all opium cultivation within 15 years, according to Win Aung.

The Thai government, on the other hand, is faced with an immediate problem as
the country has tuned in to a lucrative market for methamphetamines, the raw
material for which is produced inside Burma and along the two countries'
common
border. 
Win Aung, however, dismissed allegations by some Western countries that the
Rangoon government has turned a blind eye to narcotics trafficking and blasted
a recent narcotics report by the United States government for criticising the
Burmese military junta for not doing enough to tackle the problem. ''We regret
the report very much,'' Win Aung said. ''They are blind to reality. They even
admit in one of their reports that there has been a 20 per cent reduction in
the [opium] cultivation,'' he said. 
The US government has also criticised the Burmese junta of providing sanctuary
for major drug traffickers, such as Khun Sa, who has been indicted in a US
court for narcotics trafficking. Win Aung defended Burma's decision not to
punish the former opium warlord or extradite him to the US on the grounds of
national reconciliation and on the basis of the ''number of human lives
saved''
with the amnesty deal between the former opium warlord and the junta. 
''More than 15,000 of Khun Sa's troops have surrendered and put down their
arms. If we had to fight these 15,000 troops, we would have lost about 3,000
lives,'' he said. 
Unlike other armed rebels who have signed a ceasefire agreement with the
government, Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army have handed all their weapons to the
authorities, according to Win Aung. The foreign minister suggested that the
international community must also share the blame for the methamphetamines
that
have flooded into neighbouring Thailand and the region, saying the precursor
chemical needed to make the drug came from abroad and was transported through
Burma's neighbouring countries. 
''We don't have chemical ephadine in Burma. These chemicals are imported from
India, China and Thailand,'' he said. Akhapol dismissed suggestions by some
academics that the Burmese leaders are visiting Doi Tung as a publicity stunt,
saying the generals were invited by Chuan. On the dispute relating to
overlapping claims in the Andaman Sea and other territorial disputes along the
2,400-kilometre-long border, Akhapol said both sides have agreed to increase
the number of visits by senior military officers to improve understanding
about
the nature of the problem. 
The two countries will shortly hold a meeting of the Regional Border Committee
in Phuket to discuss on-going territorial disputes and recent violent naval
clashes. 
Akhapol said Chuan had accepted Than Shwe's invitation to Burma but had not
yet
committed himself to a date. 
In a joint statement issued at a dinner banquet hosted by Chuan on Monday,
both

leaders welcomed the significant progress in anti-drug efforts in each
country.

They agreed to intensify cooperation and the coordination of law enforcement
efforts with the aim of achieving total eradication of illicit drug
production,
processing, trafficking and use in Asean by the year 2020 in accordance with
the Joint Declaration for a Drug-Free Asean as announced in Manila on July 25,

1998. 
The 40-strong delegation will on Tuesday visit a broiler farm and slaughter
and
processing house in Saraburi province before departing for Burma. 
BY DON PATHAN and 
YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK 
The Nation