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HEADLINE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters-Myanmar lets ethnic army build road on Thai
border AP - Thailand Battles Deluge of
Drugs
Rangoon Post - Thailand Skeptical on Reported
Conspiracy to Attack Embassy in Myanmar
Bkk Post - Don't let junta mar ties, says
Germany
The Nation - Wa "move drugs labs to
border"
WIRE:07/14/2000 05:21:00 ET
Myanmar lets ethnic army build road on Thai border BANGKOK, July 14 (Reuters) - Myanmar"s military government has allowed an allied ethnic army to repair a strategic 150-km (95-mile) road along the Myanmar-Thai border, border sources told Reuters, raising fears of increased drug smuggling. The permission to the United Wa State Army (UWSA) to fix the road and run bus operations along it was interpreted by Thai security officials as an attempt to suppress the rival Shan State Army (SSA), which is still fighting Myanmar"s government. Thai border officials said repair of the bus route would fuel sporadic conflicts along the Thai border, and income from the bus operations would help expand the drug distribution network of the UWSA into Thailand. Khuensai Jaiyean, secretary-general of the Shan Democratic Union, told Reuters the bus route from Mongkyawt to Ban Ho Mong, a former stronghold of drug warlord Khun Sa, ran parallel to the Thai border. Khuensai said about 800 UWSA soldiers, led by commander Wei Xeu Kang, were posted along the road in mid-June to guard it during the rebuilding. The United States has indicted and offered a $2-million reward for the capture of Wei Xeu Kang on drug trafficking charges. A senior Thai military officer told Reuters Myanmar was using the UWSA to fight the SSA. "If the UWSA can seize the SSA"s base, all kinds of narcotic drugs will flood to Thailand and create severe problems for us," the officer said. The UWSA, which says it has 20,000 armed fighters, fought Myanmar"s military rulers in the past for greater autonomy for the Wa region in the northern Shan state while engaging actively in the opium trade. But in 1989 it unexpectedly agreed a ceasefire with Myanmar"s military government. The Thai army said last month drug production and trafficking from Myanmar was increasing rapidly and posed a serious threat to Thailand and other neighbouring countries because of the mass relocation of ethnic minorities within Myanmar in the past year. However, a state-run Myanmar newspaper said on Tuesday Thailand was worsening its own drugs problem by harbouring insurgents and should work together with Myanmar to combat the problem rather than trading accusations. Myanmar is the world"s second largest producer of opium and its derivative heroin, as well as a major source of amphetamines. Saturday July 15 2:02 AM ET
Thailand Battles Deluge of Drugs By THAKSINA KHAIKAEW, Associated Press Writer
BAN MAE LA NA, Thailand (AP) - In its opium-growing days, this mountain
village was the target of a campaign to wipe out narcotics. Now its residents,
rifles in hand, are helping wage Thailand's latest war on drugs - against a
deluge of methamphetamines and heroin from neighboring Myanmar.
As in other areas of the so-called ``Golden Triangle'' in Thailand, fields
where colorful but deadly opium poppies once bloomed have been converted to
rice, soybean and corn cultivation under a successful foreign-aided
effort.
``Domestic drug supply has been stopped, but the menace persists because
supplies keep coming from next-door Myanmar,'' says Phornchai Khamkhiew, headman
of this frontier village astride a narcotics smuggling route. ``We can't let
problems brought in by outsiders ruin our community.''
In one attempt to halt the inflow across a long, rugged and porous border,
the Thai army has trained villagers in 29 remote areas to take up weapons
against the traffickers. Fifteen men at Ban Mae La Na, 404 miles northwest of
the Thai capital Bangkok, have been trained to use weapons and patrol the
forests.
Their chief opponent is the United Wa State Army, described by the United
States as the world's largest drug-trafficking organization.
The ethnic Wa guerrillas mass-produce heroin, which is synthesized from
poppies, and methamphetamines in laboratories inside Myanmar and speed their
penetration into Thailand.
The United States, Western Europe and others in the world community are
deeply concerned because much of the heroin makes its way through Thailand to
addicts on their own streets. The Thais, while also battling heroin, are
focusing on methamphetamines, widely abused by everyone from wealthy teen-agers
to slum dwellers and poor farmers.
The Office of Narcotics Control Board estimates that 600 million of the
speed pills, worth $1.2 billion, have been smuggled into Thailand from Myanmar
this year.
It places the number of just teen-age abusers at some 260,000, and the cost
to Thai society in suppression and medical treatment at more than $2.6
billion.
``Trafficking in and abuse of methamphetamines have become Thailand's top
drug problem in recent years, supplanting heroin,'' said Pol. Lt. Gen. Komrit
Patpongpanich, the top anti-narcotics cop, in an interview.
U.S. drug officials have also warned of increasing use of meth, which can
be made from legal chemicals, in the United States.
The flow of drugs has severely strained relations between Thailand and
Myanmar's ruling military. The U.S. State Department says Myanmar is the world's
no. 2 producer of illegal narcotics, after Afghanistan.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, says it is trying to fight drugs but gets
very little foreign aid to help it.
Thai officials believe a relocation early this year of some 50,000 Myanmar
people who lived in prime opium-growing areas near the Chinese border controlled
by the Wa to a region near Thailand has increased cross-border
trafficking.
``We all know what the problem is, but can't go across the border to get
rid of the source,'' said Lt. Gen. Wattanachai Chaimuanwongse, who heads
narcotics suppression in northern Thailand, which together with adjacent areas
of Laos and Myanmar forms the drug-drenched ``Golden Triangle.''
Although gunbattles with Myanmar traffickers and Thai pushers are not
uncommon, Wattanachai and others stress that force will never win the war. Also
needed is diplomatic effort with Myanmar, cooperation with villagers along
trafficking routes and domestic social programs to stop addiction.
A recent drug raid in Bangkok illustrated the difficulties.
Before dawn, 30 armed plainclothes policemen and three sniffer dogs,
accompanied by an Associated Press reporter, scoured a fetid slum known to be
awash in drugs and pills.
``My younger brother was an addict but he quit several months ago,'' said
Arunee Yodpet, 29, when the police barged into her home but came away
empty-handed.
``This community is full of drug abusers and pushers,'' she added. ``I tell
my young son not to go and play far from the house because I'm afraid that
someone might give him pills to try.''
A few doors down, the police finally made a seizure - three pink pills -
and hauled away a 21-year-old suspect.
``Methamphetamine abuse is widespread in Bangkok's slums. Poor people take
it to escape from the hardship in daily life,'' said one of the raiders.
``Suppression alone is not enough to solve the problem.''
Thailand Skeptical on Reported
Conspiracy to Attack Embassy in Myanmar
Rangoon Post - July 15, 2000 Thailand said Friday that it was skeptical about a newspaper report that
its embassy in Myanmar had been threatened with terrorist attack by anti-Yangon
dissidents.
The Thai ambassador to Myanmar had not been informed by Myanmar authorities
of any planned attack, nor of the arrests of 11 people allegedly involved, a
foreign ministry spokesman said. The group was led by a former member of
the Thai-based All Burma Students' Democratic Front, an anti-Yangon exile group,
state newspaper Myanmar Alin reported Thursday.
``As far as Thailand is concerned, this group has never used or planned to
use force to attack Thailand,'' said deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Oum
Maolanon in a statement late Thursday. He said the ABSDF condemned a siege
on a Thai provincial hospital earlier this year by anti-Yangon Karen rebels that
ended with Thai commandos killing all 10 rebels involved.
But Oum said it was unlikely 11 people would dare such an attack because of
tight security by Myanmar authorities in Yangon and at the embassy.
Myanmar Alin reported that the 11 people were arrested in May and June, one of
them in the town of Myawaddy on the border with Thailand where they had linked
up with anti-Yangon rebel groups.
They had allegedly planned ``disruptive acts'' and to create public panic
in Yangon and in Bago, 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the north of the capital, in
a bid to discredit the government and to damage Thai- Myanmar relations, the
report said.
On Friday, ABSDF vice-chairman Moe Thee Zun said the Myanmar military
regime was trying unsuccessfully to frame the ABSDF as being a threat to
Thailand. None of the 11 alleged terrorists were actually ABSDF members, he said
in a statement. He dismissed it as a ``clumsy attempt'' to incite a
crackdown on Thai-based prodemocracy groups in the lead-up to a ministerial
meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Bangkok later this
month. Myanmar is a member of ASEAN. Students were at the forefront of
prodemocracy demonstrations in 1988 that ended with a bloody clampdown by the
Myanmar military. Thousands of civilians were gunned down and many protesters
fled into exile in Thailand. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been ruled
by its military since 1962, which ignored the results of democratic elections in
1990.
The Rangoon Post
Bangkok Post - July 15, 2000.
Don't let junta mar ties, says Germany Close ties between Asean and Europe are 'too important' Problems in Burma should not obstruct continued efforts to foster ties
between Asean and the European Union, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
said yesterday.
Although opposing human rights abuse by the Rangoon junta, Mr Fischer said
the two regional groupings needed to be more flexible so as not to let the
problem stand in their way of building up closer ties.
"From my personal view, we must try more flexible ways to deal with this
issue," he said. "On the one hand, we should not accept the violation of human
rights in Myanmar. On the other, we cannot have this situation blocking
relations between the two regions because they are too important".
Asean and EU foreign ministers will meet in October in Vientiane. Laos and
Cambodia will sign a co-operation agreement with the EU on July 28 in Bangkok,
leaving Burma the only Asean member with no bilateral EU pact.
Yet the German minister, later in a press conference after talks with
Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, hoped for productive results from the Vientiane
gathering.
Mr Surin said Germany supported Thailand to be a partner of co-operation of
the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. German President
Johannes Rau will officially visit Thailand in mid-September, he added.
- The Foreign Ministry said yesterday it had its doubts about a Burmese
newspaper report that the Thai embassy in Rangoon had been threatened with
terrorist attack by anti-junta dissidents.
The Nation - July 15, 2000.
Wa "move drugs labs to border" RANGOON has approved the takeover of a former base of the rival Shan State
Army (SSA) opposite the northwest Thai border by an allied ethnic group,
allowing it to be used as a new drug production base, a senior Thai army officer
said yesterday.
Commander of the army's Third Region, Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, said the
United Wa State Army (UWSA) was moving some of its drug refineries there from
its present base in Mong Yon.
The base was being moved to Doi Tuay, a mountainous region straddling the
Thai border across from the Chiang Mai districts of Chiang Dao and Vieng Haeng
up to the Mae Hong Song districts of Pai and Pang Ma Pha.
Wattanachai warned the relocation of Wa forces and their refineries would
heighten the armed confrontation between Wa forces and the Shan army.
It could also trigger border poaching, an exodus of Burmese villagers into
Thai border areas, and an escalation of drug flow into Thailand, he said.
He added, however, his command was well-prepared to cope with the
situation.
"The fact the Wa has moved down to take over the former base of the Shan
army close to the Thai border, with the consent of Burma, shows that both have a
common interest in protecting the seized territory and the sale of drugs to
Thailand," the officer said.
Rangoon has not benefited from the drug sales of SSA, which is still
fighting for the Shan people's autonomy from Rangoon after the surrender of SSA
warlord and drug kingpin Khun Sa.
The reported Wa relocation close to the Thai border followed the army's
warning last month that drug production and trafficking from Burma was
increasing rapidly and posed a serious threat to Thailand and other neighbouring
countries because of the mass relocation of ethnic minorities within Burma in
the past year.
However, a state-run Burmese newspaper said on Tuesday Thailand was
worsening its own drug problems by harbouring insurgents and should work
together with Burma to combat the problem rather than trading accusations.
Burma is the world's second largest producer of opium and its derivative
heroin, as well as a major source of amphetamines.
Wattanachai attended a government meeting yesterday to develop an anti-drug
policy for targeted areas in the North, which is both an exit point for
precursor chemicals and an entry point for drugs from Burma.
PM Office Minister Jurin Laksanavisit, who chaired the meeting, said he had
circulated a list of the North's 489 top drug traders to 60 special task forces
assigned to the region's anti-drug campaign between July and September.
Jurin said he has also instructed the anti-drug units to report the
progress of their campaigns every month. Anti-drug campaigns in other regions
have had some success, he said.
In the Northeast region, 50 of the 202 recorded drug traders have been
arrested while more than 40 of the 305 recorded in the Southern region have been
arrested.
In the Central region which includes Bangkok, some 20 of the 100 recorded
drug deaers have been arrested.
Government authorities are also on a list of some 1,400 drug traffickers
nationwide.
The minister said 234 government officials had been dismissed since last
year for their involvement in drug trafficking. Another 141 are still under
investigation and further information is being sought about another 658
officials.
In a related development, Reuters reported yesterday that Rangoon has
allowed the Wa group to repair a strategic 150km road along the Burmese-Thai
border. The UWSA has also received clearance to run bus operations along the
border.
This move by Rangoon is being interpreted by Thai security officials as
anoth
er attempt to suppress the rival SSA.
Thai border officials said repair of the bus route would fuel sporadic
conflicts along the Thai border. At the same time, income from the bus
operations would help expand the drug distribution network of the UWSA into
Thailand.
Khuensai Jaiyean, secretary-general of the Shan Democratic Union, told
Reuters the bus route from Mongkyawt to Ban Ho Mong, a former stronghold of Khun
Sa, ran parallel to the Thai border.
Khuensai said about 800 UWSA soldiers, led by commander Wei Xeu Kang, were
posted along the road in mid-June to guard it during rebuilding.
The United States has offered a US$2-million (Bt79.84 million) reward for
the capture of Wei Xeu Kang on drug trafficking charges.
The UWSA, which says it has 20,000 armed troops, fought the Burmese
military rulers in the past for greater autonomy for the Wa region of the
northern Shan state while engaging actively in the opium trade.
But in 1989 it unexpectedly agreed to a ceasefire with Burma's military
junta.
The Nation, Reuters
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