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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 12,
2001.
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Headlines
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Reuters - Myanmar tells Thailand not to blame
others for its drug problems
AP - Thailand Opens Border But Myanmar
Keeps Crossing Shut
AP - Myanmar Defends Ethnic Group Blamed
For Drug Trafficking
Reuters - Myanmar clamps down on smuggled
Thai energy drinks
Bkk Post - Thaksin tells army to use spy satellites
Monday March 12, 7:08 PM
Myanmar tells Thailand not to
blame others for its drug problems
By Dominic Whiting BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government told Thailand on Monday to concentrate on dealing with its
own drugs industry rather than blame others for its problems.
Myanmar government spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Hla Min said in a statement
received in Bangkok that a weekend Thai conference on drugs chaired by Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was wrong to conclude Myanmar was the root of
Thailand's drug problems.
"Putting all the blame on a neighbouring country for everything that goes
wrong in Thailand is not the way to solve any problems," he said.
The closed-door Thailand conference brought government, army and police
officials together to discuss the flood of metamphetamines which Thai officials
say is entering the country through its porous border with Myanmar.
The Thai army says that 700 million metamphetamine pills -- stimulants
which affect the central nervous system -- will come into Thailand this year, an
increase of 40 percent on last year.
Thai politicians at the conference told reporters they had been shocked by
photographs of impressive infrastructure in the prosperous and growing Myanmar
town of Mong Yawn, which Thai officials believe has been funded by the drugs
trade.
But Myanmar denies this, saying that successful development projects and
other economic activity is responsible for the growing wealth of the Wa ethnic
group living in the area under the control of the Yangon-backed United Wa State
Army (UWSA).
"MANY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS"
"The Wa people are involved in many development projects in the country
such as mining, fisheries, logging, agriculture, Hla Min said.
"Recently they have discovered a huge mine containing at least nine
different minerals which are being exported to China."
The Thai government has said it suspects the UWSA (or Red Wa) are the most
important producer of metamphetamines coming into Thailand from the mountainous
"Golden Triangle" region at the intersection of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.
But the Myanmar spokesman rejected this also:
"It is disappointing to learn that the Red Wa is being used as a scapegoat
and the whole narcotic problem Thailand is encountering today seems to be very
conveniently thrown on the UWSA," it said.
"One begs to knows to know that if the UWSA ceases to exist today, will the
narcotic problem in Thailand disappear?"
"To be realistic the Thai authorities should first examine the internal
drug distribution system in Thailand and how these organised crime syndicates
and individual big dealers are not only surviving but thriving and also being
protected," the Myanmar statement said.
The statement came just a day after Prime Minister Thaksin said he was
looking for "sincere" discussions with the Myanmar government.
"We need a decisive response from Myanmar to solve this problem," he told
journalists after the conference on Sunday.
Relations between Thailand and Myanmar have taken a turn for the worse in
recent weeks after fighting between Myanmar troops, backed by their Wa allies,
and ethnic Shan rebels spilled over into Thai territory.
Thai army sources believe the fighting was related to control over the
drugs trade.
Monday March 12, 2:09 PM
Thailand Opens Border But Myanmar Keeps
Crossing Shut
MAE SAI, Thailand (AP)--Myanmar
Monday failed to open a major border crossing with Thailand even after the Thai
side reopened its gates in a bid to end monthlong tensions over fighting between
their armies.
Hundreds of disappointed people waited in rain near the Thai checkpoint at the foot of a bridge over a canal that separates Mae Sai town in northern Thailand with Tachilek in Myanmar. A Myanmar government spokesman didn't immediately respond to faxed
questions on the border reopening.
Thailand opened three other crossings in Mae Sai district, but "the other
side does not seem to have responded well to our attempts to ease tensions,"
said Ronarong Sukthavorn, the chief customs official in Mae Sai.
"Myanmar procedure is usually slow. But they might open soon, I hope," he
said.
Mae Sai is 720 kilometers north of Bangkok.
Thailand had closed the border after heavy fighting on Feb. 11 between
Myanmar troops and ethnic Shan rebels seeking independence when several shells
landed on Mae Sai town from Myanmar, killing two civilians. Thai troops later
fought with Myanmar soldiers, accusing them of intruding into Thai soil, a
charge Myanmar denied.
Maj. Domsak Khamsijam, who held talks with a Myanmar border committee to
ease tensions, said he had informed his counterpart about the planned reopening
or the border Monday. In response, Myanmar said it had never shut the border in
the first place, Domsak said.
"But when we opened the border, they closed their gate. When we asked why,
they said they have to consult their supervisors," he said.
The closure has affected business in Mae Sai, where tourists stop on their
way to Myanmar. Food vendors, who said they made $70 a day during normal times,
have been earning only $5 a day.
Monday March 12, 6:30 PM
Myanmar Defends Ethnic Group Blamed For
Drug Trafficking
BANGKOK (AP)--Firing the latest
salvo in a war of words, Myanmar Monday accused Thailand of making a pro-Yangon
drug army the "scapegoat" for its narcotics problems.
"Putting all the blame on a neighboring country for everything that goes wrong in Thailand is not the way to solve any problems," a government spokesman said in written statement faxed to The Associated Press in Bangkok. He said Thai authorities should clean their own house first, claiming that
crime syndicates and drug dealers are "thriving and also being protected" in
Thailand. The spokesman cannot be identified under Myanmar government rules.
His statement was in response to a Thai government seminar over the weekend
where the army said Myanmar's United Wa State Army, a group of ethnic Wa
fighters known as the Red Wa, has built a drug manufacturing city, Mong Yawn,
close to the border with Thailand.
A former separatist group, the UWSA signed a cease-fire with Myanmar in
exchange for virtual control over areas in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border.
The UWSA is now an ally of the Myanmar junta in its fight against other ethnic
rebels.
"It is disappointing to learn that the Red Wa is being used as a scapegoat
and the whole narcotics problem Thailand is encountering today seems to be very
conveniently thrown on the UWSA," the spokesman said.
"One begs to know that if the UWSA ceases to exist today, will the
narcotics problem in Thailand disappear?"
Thai army officials had told the seminar, called to develop an
anti-narcotics strategy, that Mong Yawn has first class hotels, a big hospital
and its own hydroelectric dam. They said the UWSA has brought in 50,000 people
to help manufacture drugs.
The U.S. also says the UWSA is a major narcotics trafficker and operates
with the tacit approval of Myanmar's military junta.
A U.S. State Department report released this month says the UWSA is
"heavily involved" in drug trafficking and is "largely immune from government
action" as authorities make little attempt to seize drugs or destroy drug
factories in UWSA-controlled territories.
Thailand echoes these accusations and says the UWSA is flooding the country
with methamphetamine, a synthetic drug that has been declared public enemy no. 1
by the government.
At the weekend seminar, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told the
Thai military to use every force necessary to quell the UWSA's drug trade. He
said the government would buy satellite photos taken by the U.S. to monitor drug
production and trafficking along the border.
WIRE: 03/11/2001 11:32 pm ET
Myanmar clamps down on smuggled Thai energy drinks YANGON, March 12 (Reuters) -
Myanmar, widely accused of being the main source of illegal drugs flooding into
Thailand, said on Monday it was clamping down on smuggled Thai-made energy
drinks and monosodium glutamate to safeguard public health.
"Various brands of Thai-made monosodium glutamate...and various brands of
energy drinks...are being smuggled into Myanmar through the border, by land or
by sea," said an order issued by the ministry of home affairs at the weekend.
"With a view to safeguarding public health, it is hereby announced that the
importing, trading and consuming of the...illegally-imported items have been
banned."
Although the import of Thai energy drinks and monosodium glutamate
flavouring powder is illegal in Myanmar, the items are widely available.
There was no mention of the punishments for violating the order.
A health ministry official denied that the order was related to increased
tension between Thailand and Myanmar.
Relations took a turn for the worse last month when Thai and Myanmar forces
clashed after a spill-over into Thailand of fighting between Myanmar troops and
separatist rebels.
"No, it's purely a health matter. We banned these products long before the
border incident broke out. We even stopped producing monosodium glutamate in our
country years ago," the health official said.
Thai criticism of drug production in Myanmar has also increased tension
between the two countries.
Bangkok Post - March 12,
2001.
Thaksin tells army to use spy
satellites
Surveillance ordered to pinpoint factories Anucha Charoenpo Army and drug enforcement authorities have been told to make full use of
satellites to spy on drug factories across the border in Burma.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the government would fund the
programme.
Methamphetamine factories would be pinpointed and extra training given to
drug agency staff to interpret information and better deal with the
problem.
He wanted to know the exact number and location of drug laboratories in
Burma, so their smuggling routes could be blocked.
At least 50 speed laboratories were believed to be scattered along the
northern border, with another 37 in the township of Mong Yawn, the southern
headquarters of the United Wa State Army.
Drug authority sources said there could be more.
The exact location of all laboratories had still not been determined.
The conference was shown slides of Mong Yawn, about 30km from Chiang Mai's
Mae Ai district, which was built with several billion baht in drug money. The
army outlined the rapid growth and development of the town since 1998.
Mr Thaksin had asked many questions about the technology available for
combating drugs and how it could be applied, a source said.
Kitti Limchaikij, head of the Narcotics Control Board, said an improved
database was essential.
Pipop Chamniwikaipong, chief of the Narcotics Control Board's satellite
survey unit, said Thailand had been using satellite pictures since 1976,
purchased from Japan, France and the United States.
They were mainly used to survey opium cultivation in 17 northern
province.
Mr Pipop said growers would probably reap about 126 million baht from
selling raw opium this year.
Existing satellite pictures did not show the drug factories. This
information came from other intelligence sources.
About 700 million speed pills are expected to flow into Thailand from the
border factories this year, based on intelligence estimates of production
potential.
Mr Thaksin said he wanted to see evidence of sincerity from Burmese
authorities in fighting drug
abuse. |