Myanmar's Wa group denies Thai charge on drugs
A spokesman of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) told Reuters
Thai Provinces To Ban Caffeine
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thai authorities will ban caffeine from six northern provinces beginning next month to prevent its use in the production of the illegal stimulant methamphetamine, a Thai newspaper reported Saturday.
Caffeine will not be listed as a controlled substance but its shipment to the provinces in northern Thailand close to neighboring Myanmar will be prohibited, reported the Bangkok Post newspaper, quoting Prime Minister's Office Minister Jurin Laksanavisit.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is believed to be the source of most of the methamphetamine that is flooding into Thailand. In the past few years the stimulant has overtaken heroin as the greatest drug threat to the country, largely because it can be made and sold cheaply. Myanmar is also a major source of heroin and opium.
The announcement of the ban came after an article in Myanmar's state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper accused Thailand, along with China and India, of being the sources for the chemicals in the manufacture of amphetamines.
Thai authorities have angrily denied the allegation, and reports from various drug experts suggest that India and China are far more likely culprits.
``Amphetamine continues to be the biggest threat among illegal drugs,'' Sorasit Sangprasert, the secretary-general of Thailand's Narcotics Control Board, was quoted as saying in the newspaper The Nation.
US slams Myanmar on human rights, says severe repression continues
The United States on Friday slammed Myanmar's military government for continued severe and brutal repression of its people accusing it of a wide array of human rights abuses.
"The government's extremely poor human rights record and longstanding severe repression of its citizens continued during (1999)," the State Department said in it annual global review of human rights performances.
"Citizens continued to live subject at any time and without appeal to the arbitrary and sometimes brutal dictates of the military regime," it said in a 47-page section detailing the situation in Myanmar.
Yangon's crackdown on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy remained constant, the report said, adding that Suu Kyi's ability to travel or receive visitors was still highly restricted.
"Those suspected of or charged with pro-democratic political activity were subjected to increased surveillance and harassment," it said, maintaining that the government continued to "constrain their activities through security measures and threats."
Noting that the government, the State Peace and Order Development Council (SPDC), had more than doubled the size of the armed forces since 1988, the report said human rights abuses by members of the military were unabated especially in remote rural and border areas populated by Karen and Shan minorities.
"There continued to be credible reports, particularly in ethnic-minority dominated areas, that soldiers committed serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and rape," it said.
Disappearances at the hands of the military as well a torture and severe beating continued as did arbitrary arrests, it said.
The report also criticized the judicial system, stating flat out that "it is not independent" and took aim at orchestrated and widespread intrusions into the privacy of its citizens through eavesdropping, warrantless searches and forced relocation.
In addition, the State Department said Yangon restricted the freedoms of religion, press and assembly, those of workers and refused access to the country to outside neutral observers.
Forced labor -- particularly peasants conscripted to serve as porters by the military -- "remained a common practice," it said.
Probe starts into Thai army helicopter crash
The Thai army on Saturday intensified an investigation into the crash of an army helicopter which reportedly exploded in mid-air, killing 11 people.
Army spokesman Colonel Somkuan Seangpattaranetr told AFP that the probe by army training command started on Friday shortly after the Bell 212 helicopter went down and would last a week.
"We will work to clarify whether it was caused by human or equipment error. There should be no speculation on the cause, we will not ignore any evidence," he said.
The crash came three days after unsourced reports appeared in the Thai media saying a Thai army helicopter had been shot at by Myanmar troops while flying over the Thai side of the border further north.
Friday's crash, however, happened around 40 kilometres (25 miles) inside the border which is often the scene of fighting between Myanmar junta forces and ethnic opposition guerrillas.
Senior army officers late Friday denied mounting speculation here the disaster may have been caused by a bomb or ground fire.
"I cannot confirm the cause of the crash but I don't think it was a bomb," Lietenant General Pongthec Theppatet of the Supreme Command told AFP.
"If it is a bomb we will find traces of explosives and there will be evidence," he said.
The 11 people who perished in the crash in Kanchanaburi province included seven senior army officers and four crew.
Among the dead was the commander of the army's elite Ninth Army division, Major General Sanchai Rachtawan, who was responsible for operations along the tense Thai-Myanmar border.
The aircraft went down only 15 minutes after taking off from an army base on a mission to assess the situation along the border, he said.
Thai armed forces have been forced to refit old models of aircraft and equipment after the government imposed budget cuts in the wake of Thailand's deepest-ever economic crisis which erupted in 1997.
The Thai border has been especially tense since a group of Myanmar rebels crossed into Thailand and seized a hospital in Ratchaburi province last month, taking hundreds of hostages.
The siege eventually ended when Thai special forces raided the hospital, killing all 10 rebels.
Late last year, another band of rebels seized the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok and were eventually flown to the border area in a deal which ended the siege.
Human rights violations in Burma criticised
to follow ASIA HUMAN RIGHTS The State Department's list of human rights violations is particularly long in the case of Burma.
It says the country's military rulers have continued to suppress the pro-democracy movement by preventing their elected representatives from convening through means of intimidation and arbitrary detention.
Members of the security forces are alleged to have committed serious human rights abuses, including killings without trial and rapes.
The US document, which was published on the Internet, says the Burmese military intensified its campaign against the National League for Democracy NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi after the NLD established a ten-member committee to act on behalf of the parliament in 1998.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
Top general dies in copter crash
All 11 aboard killed in sugarcane
field
Preecha Srisatharn
First Army commander Lt-Gen Thaweep Suwannasingha ruled out sabotage. He
believed engine trouble had destroyed the Bell 212 helicopter. The dead included Maj-Gen Sanchai Ratchatawan, commander of the 9th Infantry
Division based in Kanchanaburi, and his deputy, Col Somjit Se-niwong na
Ayudhaya. Also killed were Col Nimit Maleeyaem, Lt-Col Thanavuth Bunnag, Lt-Col Anusak
Chusak, Maj Somkiat Makviset, pilot Capt Suthas Rakthong, co-pilot Sub-Lt Luecha
Timpataem, Lt Thawatchai Kerdsak, Mst-Sgt Vibul Petruji and Mst-Sgt Preecha
Hachob. A source said that before the flight, the division's aviation centre had
asked for a weather update from the Meteorological Department, which warned of
turbulence and heavy rain. Maj-Gen Sanchai had insisted on making the journey, claiming it was urgent,
the source said. The commander and his team were scheduled to pick up Lt-Gen Thaweep in Thong
Phaphum district and fly to a Karen refugee centre in Ban Ton Yang in Sangkhla
Buri district.
An army helicopter exploded and crashed into a sugarcane
plantation yesterday, killing nine senior officers and two crew on
board.
|
|
|
The wreckage of an army Bell 212 hellcopter leis in a field not far away from the 9th Infantry Division garrison. - Tawatchai Kemgumnerd |
After takeoff at 7.30am, the pilot radioed the aviation centre to say visibility was down to 10m. Five minutes later, the pilot advised the centre he was making an emergency landing. The operator asked the pilot for his location and was told he was unable to tell, said the source. The pilot then reported engine trouble before contact was lost.
A rescue helicopter was sent to where the troubled machine was last plotted on radar, in Ban Wang Chan, tambon Wangdong, about 11km northwest of the divisional garrison.
The helicopter had broken up on impact and was burning when the rescue unit arrived and brought the fire under control.
The bodies of the 11 on board were taken to Surasee army hospital and then to Wat Sommanas Viharn in Bangkok for funeral rites.
Sgt Thongporn Samingsa, who lives about 500m from the crash site, said the helicopter was flying slightly above tree level and swaying from side to side, almost hitting a water tank tower.
| Maj-Gen Sanchai |
He said the chopper tried to head back in the direction of the garrison.
"Then I heard the roar of an engine and saw a bright flash and there was an explosion," said Sgt Thongporn, who radioed the division immediately.
Lt-Gen Thaweep said engine trouble was the cause. The pilot had informed flight control of a problem with its twin turboshaft engine when advising he needed an emergency landing, the First Army commander said.
Army spokesman Col Somkhuan Pattaranetr said it was too early to be specific about the cause of the explosion. He declined to comment on the possibility of sabotage, saying there was no evidence to back that theory.
| An army officer consoles a relative of an officer killed in the crash, at Wat Sommanas Viharn, Bangkok, where religious rites will be held. - Boonnarong Bhudhipanya |
"Once we have a clue pointing to the cause of the explosion we will let you know immediately," he said.
Kanchanaburi Governor Jadet Insawang also ruled out sabotage. The helicopter's altimeter indicated it was about 300ft above ground when the explosion occurred, he said.
"The copter's pilots informed the 9th division's aviation centre about an engine problem only 10 minutes after taking off and they were trying to make an emergency landing.
"Unfortunately, a technical problem caused an explosion," said the governor. "Based on the circumstances, it is unlikely the flight was sa-botaged."
Bangkok Post - Feb 26, 2000.
Controls on caffeine tightened in six border provinces
Yuwadee
Tunyasiri Caffeine will be banned in six border provinces
next month to cut off supplies to methamphetamine plants in Burma, PM's Office
Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said yesterday. Although caffeine is not a controlled substance, there is no legal
manufacturing activity in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Tak, Nan, and
Phrae that need it, said Mr Jurin. "Those who bring caffeine to those provinces can be assumed to be supplying
the chemical for methamphetamine production," said the minister who supervises
narcotics suppression. The move followed a report by the Burmese state-run New Light of Myanmar
newspaper that precursor chemicals were smuggled from Thailand, China and India
for illicit drug production in Burma. Mr Jurin denied a claim in the report that the government was doing its best
to block the flow of precursors. "We have seized as much as 18 tonnes of
caffeine [destined for Burma]," he said. "If it had been smuggled out, it could
have fed the production of as many as 360 million pills. Effective suppression
needs the co-operation of all nations concerned because some countries are
production bases while others are transit routes or markets," he said. The minister had the Narcotics Control Board check the report with the
Burmese ambassador, who said Rangoon had not released it. On the other hand, he raised concern about Rangoon's action in moving people
with a history of opium cultivation to areas opposite Mae Hong Son. "I may invite the ambassador for a talk to seek special attention for the
Burmese people to prevent them from returning to narcotics that will affect our
nation," Mr Jurin added.