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Ananova - June 23, 2000.
Chemical used in drug production seized
at Myanmar border
A cache of chemicals - enough to produce 72 million amphetamine pills - has
been seized in Thailand on suspicion that the haul was destined for a
drug-making operation in neighbouring Myanmar.
Customs chief Boontium Chokewiwat said that 180 kilograms (396 pounds) of
magnesium stearate had been seized, which had been shipped from the Thai capital
of Bangkok.
The owner of the chemicals, identified only as a Myanmar national named
Kamal, was not arrested since magnesium stearate is not illegal in
Thailand.
Kamal has 30 days to prove the chemical was not intended for use in
producing amphetamines. The haul will come under permanent government possession
if he fails to produce the evidence.
Boontium said the haul was enough to make 72 million pills of amphetamine,
a drug that has been inundating Thailand. Most of the pills are manufactured in
Myanmar and smuggled across the border.
The Economist - June 23,
2000.
ASIA- Drugs and slavery in Myanmar
M A E S O T
A MEASURE of the fear and repression in Myanmar can be readily found by talking to its refugees in neighbouring Thailand. About 1m have fled to border towns like Mae Sot to avoid economic collapse and repression by a brutal military regime. Many have found their way into the growing Thai economy, but some 90,000 refugees remain in camps on the border. Among the more worrying stories they tell are of a homeland that increasingly relies on slavery. To judge by the reports of recent refugees, slavery seems particularly
widespread in such states as Shan and Karen. Myanmar’s army only recently took
full control of these remote border areas. The regime, which ten years ago
ignored an unambiguous election victory by the opposition National League for
Democracy, has arranged ceasefires with most of the rebel ethnic groups, but
keeps control only by using slaves to build defences, roads and bridges. Locals
are forced to clear land, act as porters for the army and provide food and
housing. Refugees claim that forced labourers are even made to march along roads
that have been mined by rebels.
“It is a matter of life or death. Now we have people coming from deep
inside Burma [Myanmar], not just the border,” explains the leader of the Um
Phiem refugee camp, on a muddy, crowded hillside on the Thai border. Their
stories, and other accounts collected clandestinely inside Myanmar, tell of
horrific forced labour. Sometimes they involve prisoners, even petty criminals.
One man says he was plucked from a train for not having a ticket and forced to
work for the army on a starvation diet.
In this deeply Buddhist country, the army usually describes the work
demanded of forced labourers as a traditional merit-earning activity.
Unfortunately, the 800,000 or so people who are thought to be exploited in this
way have little say about it. Their numbers have been estimated by groups
compiling evidence for the UN’s International Labour Organisation. In a
conference in Geneva last week, the ILO urged that Myanmar should face further
international isolation because of its use of forced labour. The regime, which
has lately been making renewed efforts to gain recognition abroad and to woo
foreign investors, has responded angrily, denying that it uses forced labour and
giving warning that foreign meddling would “only impede the process of
democratisation”. This is not a process, however, that has been much in
evidence.
The army has about 400,000 men and takes the lion’s share of government
spending. Even so, its soldiers are ill-equipped. Most of them are frightened
conscripts, of whom many are also forced to work unpaid for the various
businesses run by their officers. These may be as innocuous as, say brick
making. Or they may involve illegal logging, smuggling or Myanmar’s flourishing
drugs industry.
The United States has condemned Myanmar as the biggest producer of opium
after Afghanistan. The Thais are concerned about the quantities of what are
called yabba flowing across the border. These potent amphetamines are
increasingly being manufactured in Myanmar’s border region. Whatever its regime
may proclaim, Myanmar seems to be relying on ever more horrible methods to
sustain an indefensible export trade.
Financial Times - June 22,
2000.
First gas from Burma
project
By FT.com staff Published: June 22 2000 07:48GMT | Last Updated: June 22 2000 21:24GMT Premier Oil, the UK independent exploration and production company, announced on Thursday that gas production has commenced from the Yetagun field offshore Burma with upto 70m cubic feet a day being delivered to the Thai gas company PTT. The full take-or-pay contract quantity of 200m cu ft a day is due to be
deliverable from July 1 and the company said it is confident this will be
achieved. It also said the field development has been completed within the $650m
budget.
In April, the UK foreign ministry took the unusual step of asking Premier
to withdraw its 26.67 per cent stake and operatorship of Yetagun, saying, "We
are concerned that [Premier] are still in there and would prefer that they get
out."
US and French oil companies, as well as Premier, have faced criticism of
their involvement in Burma from human rights campaign groups that allege use of
forced labour and land clearance in some development.
But the UK ministry said it would and could not force the company to pull
out and Premier indicated it intended to stay on, saying 'positive engagement'
was the best way to achieve change in countries like Burma.
In its statement on Thursday the company said it looked forward to seeing
gas flowing from the field for the next 20 years.
Other partners in the Yetagun development are a subsidiary of Petronas of
Malaysia with 30 per cent, a subsidiary of PTT with 14.17% and Nippon Oil
Exploration with 14.17 per cent.
Petronas holds a 25 per cent stake in Premier as does US oil company
Amerada Hess.
The reserve base of Yetagun is believed to be around 1.5 trillion cu ft,
according to the US Department of Energy.
WIRE:06/23/2000 09:12:00 ET
US says Myanmar rights record blocks anti-drug aid BANGKOK (Reuters) - The United
States said Friday that Myanmar's poor record on democracy and human
rights meant Washington would not provide money to help combat illegal
drug production in the impoverished country.
White House anti-drugs czar Barry McCaffrey told a news conference in Bangkok there was "widespread drug production" in Myanmar, which posed a threat to the rest of the region. "Burma (Myanmar) is a massive source of drug production, which is
impacting its neighbors," he said.
"(But) there are constraints that restrict the U.S. from offering
funds to fight against drugs in Myanmar... There are issues such as
democracy and human rights that constrain us from working with the Burmese
regime."
McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
said a region-wide partnership was needed to fight the "international
cancer" of narcotics and no nation was immune from the threat.
The retired Army general was on an Asian tour to drum up support for
the United States campaign against narcotics.
The U.S. says more than 20 countries in Asia are major drug producing
or drug transit nations, including Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Hong
Kong, India, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Some U.S. officials and international drugs agencies accuse Myanmar's
military government of supporting or at least turning a blind eye to
narcotics production -- a charge rejected by Yangon, which says it is
actively fighting the drugs trade within its borders.
PUBLIC BURNING
Friday, the Myanmar authorities held a public ceremony in Yangon to
burn 708 lb of heroin, 1.87 tons of opium, and 30 million stimulant pills.
Police put the New York street value of the drugs destroyed at $1.34
billion.
"Whatever kinds of accusations may come from whichever quarters, we
will continue with our chosen path to eliminate the scourge of illicit
drugs," Police Maj. Gen. Soe Win, Secretary of the Central Committee for
Drugs Abuse Control, said at the ceremony.
Soe Win estimated that at the end of 1999 Myanmar had more than
80,000 drug addicts, but said the country should not be blamed by the
international community for being a major base for narcotics
production.
He said chemicals used to produce amphetamine pills were smuggled
into the country from its neighbors.
"Although Myanmar is criticized for illicit production of drugs, the
media and the criticizing countries should also bear in mind that drugs
cannot be refined without chemicals," he said.
Since 1993, the Myanmar authorities have sentenced 14 people to death
and handed out terms of life imprisonment to 35 others for drug offenses.
Most death sentences were later commuted to long prison terms, Soe Win
said.
Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium and its
derivative heroin, as well as being a major source of amphetamines.
Friday, June 23 8:23 PM SGT
US stands firm on Myanmar drug policyBANGKOK, June 23 (AFP) -The US Friday reiterated its determination not to give Myanmar money to fight the drugs trade, as the military government in Yangon staged a massive drug-burning ceremony and appealed again for funds. "There are goals of democracy, rule of law and human rights that constrain us in what we can do to work with the current military regime," said the high-profile chief of the US drugs control office, Barry McCaffrey. In Bangkok as part of a week-long Asia tour, the US "drugs czar" declined to comment on how the Myanmar authorities should best use their slim resources to combat the production of drugs within their borders. The United States was among the countries that last year boycotted an Interpol drug conference in Yangon at which senior government officials called for cooperation and foreign funding for anti-narcotics efforts. Thai officials on Friday urged the United States not to reinforce Myanmar's status as an international pariah, and to deal with its political situation and drug problem separately. The United States "should not isolate the Myanmar government" which made it more difficult for its neighbours to deal with drug production there, said Jurin Laksanawisit, minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office. On Friday the Myanmar junta torched a drugs haul worth an estimated 1.3 billion dollars, which it said had been seized over the past year, in a ceremony at Yangon police headquarters. The bonfire, which sent heady fumes over Yangon, was witnessed by up to 300 diplomats, foreign residents, government officials and media, who were also given kits to test the authenticity of the 15 tonnes of opium, heroin, marijuana and amphetamines. The display was designed to help counter accusations that Myanmar is one of the world's top drug producers and traffickers. The Secretary of Myanmar's national drug abuse control board, Soe Win, said it was "disheartening" that the regime had received no help to rid itself of the problem. "Myanmar has been combating the scourge of illicit drugs with her own resources without the assistance of the international community," he said. "Whatever kinds of accusations may come from whatever quarters, we will carry on with our own efforts and our own resources for the total eradication of narcotic drugs." The United States and many other Western states have imposed economic and political sanctions on Myanmar because of its military rule and alleged human rights violations and tolerance of the drug trade. The Myanmar government says it is determined to shed its pariah status as a narcotics producer and has introduced a drug eradication program which it says will wipe out domestic production within 15 years. But critics charge that the program is a sham, citing reports that the Myanmar army is helping ethnic minority amphetamine producers in the country's northwest. Thai army officials have frequently blamed Myanmar for the recent massive influx on amphetamines into Thailand. The army estimates that more than 600 million amphetamine pills will be produced there this year for export to Thailand. McCaffrey lavished praise on Thailand's efforts to combat the drugs trade, saying it was one of the few countries in the region with "both the capability and the political will" to tackle the issue. But he warned that amphetamines were an increasingly serious problem, with a "disturbing escalation" in trafficking from production centres run by the Wa in Myanmar and passing into Thailand at various points along the border. Friday, June 23 6:25 PM SGT Myanmar holds massive drug-burning ceremonyYANGON, June 23 (AFP) - Accused of harboring drug lords and abetting amphetamine producers, Myanmar's junta Friday staged a massive drug-burning ceremony at Yangon police headquarters. At the headquarters just outside downtown Yangon, police burned an estimated 1.3 billion dollars worth of allegedly seized illicit opium, heroin, amphetamines and other drugs, an AFP reporter witnessed. The Yangon junta's annual drug-burning exercise is designed to combat foreign criticism of Myanmar as one of the world's top drug producers and traffickers. This year's burning exercise, the 14th such one to be staged by the military junta, was timed to coincide with the visit to Thailand by US "drug czar" Barry McCaffrey, who met Thai officials Friday as part of a multi-country Asia tour. Diplomats, foreign residents, government officials and the media were invited to attend the burning ceremony and test the authenticity of the drugs before they were set ablaze. Despite foreign states' efforts to isolate Myanmar and the international media's ignorance of Myanmar's anti-drug efforts, the Yangon government is effectively combating drugs, said Soe Win, secretary of the national drug abuse control board. "Myanmar has been combating the scourge of illicit drugs with her own resources without the assistance of the international community," he said. "Whatever kinds of accusations may come from whatever quarters, we will carry on with our own efforts and our own resources for the total eradication of narcotic drugs." The Myanmar government, which says it is determined to shed its pariah status as a narcotics producer, has introduced a drug eradication program that it says will wipe out domestic production within 15 years. Win said as a result of the program, cultivation and production of opium in Myanmar has decreased in the past three years. But critics charge that the eradication program is a sham and that Myanmar's army is helping ethnic minority amphetamine producers in the country's northwest. Thai army officials have frequently blamed Myanmar for the recent massive influx on amphetamines into Thailand. The Thai army has estimated that more than 600 million amphetamine pills will be produced in Myanmar this year for export to Thailand. The United States in April designated Myanmar as uncooperative in the fight against drugs and identified the country as a major drugs producer and transit point. Friday, June 23 5:07 PM SGT Thailand calls on US to not isolate MyanmarBANGKOK, June 23 (AFP) - Thailand has called on the United States to not add to the isolation of international pariah state Myanmar, a senior Thai minister said Friday. The United States "should not isolate the Myanmar government," but instead should deal with Myanmar's political situation and drug problem separately, said Jurin Laksanawisit, minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office. If the US isolates the Yangon junta politically, it will make it much more difficult for Myanmar's neighbors to deal with the country's drug production problem, Jurin said. Instead, Thailand believes the US and Myanmar's neighbors should work with the Yangon junta to halt regional drug production, he said. Jurin spoke to reporters Friday after meeting US anti-drug czar Barry McCaffrey, who is in Thailand on the second leg of an Asian tour that includes visits to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Because of Myanmar's political situation and alleged drug production, the United States and many other Western states have imposed economic and political sanctions on it. Myanmar's generals have maintained an uncompromising military rule and are accused of perpetrating appalling human rights abuses, including forced labour and the repression and torture of political opponents. The United States was among the countries that last year boycotted an Interpol drug conference in Yangon at which senior government officials called for cooperation and foreign funding for anti-narcotics efforts. Thai army officials have frequently blamed Myanmar for the recent massive influx on amphetamines into Thailand. The Thai army has estimated that more than 600 million amphetamine pills will be produced in Myanmar this year for export to Thailand. Keen to highlight their anti-drugs efforts, the ruling generals in Myanmar scheduled a drug destruction ceremony for Friday, where they will torch of thousands of tonnes of opium, heroin, marijuana, and the chemicals used to manufacture heroin and amphetamines. The Myanmar government, which says it is determined to shed its pariah status as a narcotics producer, has introduced a drug eradication program which it says will wipe out domestic production within 15 years. But critics charge that the eradication program is a sham, citing reports that the Myanmar army is helping ethnic minority amphetamine producers in the country's northwest. In its 1999 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the United States renewed its designation of Myanmar and Afghanistan as uncooperative in the fight against drugs. Before departing from Washington, McCaffrey had praised Thailand for its "remarkable" anti-drugs effort which had virtually stamped out heroin production in just two decades. "The Thai have made tremendous accomplishments. They're worth studying," he said. Far Eastern Economic
Review
BURMA Troubled Junta A power struggle looms in Rangoon's military leadership. Neighbours are watching closely -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Bertil Lintner, Nayan Chanda, and Sadanand Dhume/BANGKOK, HONG KONG AND NEW DELHI Issue cover-dated June 29, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA'S GEN. THAN SHWE never wished to become head of the country's military junta. As deputy chairman he was forced into the role in 1992 after his late predecessor, Gen. Saw Maung, was forced to step down on health grounds. But in light of recent reports that Than Shwe himself is now seriously ill, attention is shifting to his two closest underlings, army commander Gen. Maung Aye and intelligence chief Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt. If Than Shwe goes, diplomats in Rangoon expect a long-standing power struggle between the two to spill into the open. The significance of such a development is more than a matter of domestic
concern. A power struggle could change Rangoon's relationship with the outside
world, most notably with China and its main strategic rival in the region,
India. Khin Nyunt is seen as pro-Chinese. Maung Aye, however, is said to be
concerned about Burma's heavy dependence on arms supplies from China, and
Chinese migration into northern parts of the country. While senior Indian
officials are reluctant to characterize Maung Aye as anti-Chinese, New Delhi has
nonetheless been conducting a charm offensive to encourage him to take a more
independent foreign-policy stance.
Signs that Maung Aye is preparing for the post-Than Shwe era are already
evident. Thai intelligence officials say he recently visited the Mong Yawn base
of the United Wa State Army, where he informed combatants that in future they
would have to report to him. The UWSA, a former rebel army of 10,000-20,000
fighters that made peace with the government in 1989, has so far been close to
Khin Nyunt. It controls most of the Golden Triangle's lucrative drugs trade and
has close ties with China.
India's main concern in Burma has long been China. New Delhi has sought to
counter Beijing's influence by supporting Burma's pro-democracy forces. But
since 1993, India has shifted its strategy out of concern that its policies had
achieved little while pushing Burma closer to Beijing. "While our hearts are
with the pro-democracy movement, we can't wait for them to come to power," says
an overseas-based Indian diplomat, who asked not to be identified. "We have to
counter China's influence here and now."
INDIA REAPS ECONOMIC BENEFIT
Swaran Singh, a Burma expert at New Delhi's Institute for Defence Studies
and Analyses, says that in the early 1990s, Burma was seen as another province
of China. "Today," he says, "it is completely different. Asean [the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations] and India have also moved in."
Part of that new policy appears to be to exploit the rift between Maung Aye
and Khin Nyunt. In January this year, Maung Aye paid a highly publicized visit
to India--notably without Khin Nyunt. Since then it has emerged that he offered
military cooperation to help tackle cross-border insurgencies in India's
volatile northeastern states. Government officials in New Delhi say India has
been supplying nonlethal military aid to Burma in return, including boots and
combat gear for soldiers. India has also leased helicopters.
Indian companies have also begun to promote trade and investment in Burma.
In late May, Bombay industrialist G.L. Goenka headed a business delegation to
Rangoon. The visitors discussed projects from copper exploration near the Indian
border to a natural-gas pipeline from Burma to India. Government officials in
New Delhi say talks are at an advanced stage on a 1,000-megawatt hydroelectric
project on the Chindwin River that would supply power to both countries.
Maung Aye also played a tough negotiator during a trip to Beijing this
month. China and Burma had been expected to conclude an accord during the trip,
providing China's southwestern provinces with access to the Indian Ocean via the
Bhamo river port in northern Burma. But a firm deal wasn't reached. "While China
will get some concessions, it won't get all that it asked for," says a
Thailand-based Asian diplomat.
For Burma's pro-democracy movement, the emerging power struggle and the
big-power games being played out in back rooms during foreign visits are bad
news. "It shows that more and more countries in the region now believe that the
junta is there to stay," says the Thailand-based diplomat. And Maung Aye, a
military hardliner, may be better poised to ensure this state of affairs
prevails than the relatively more outgoing and mundane Khin Nyunt.
Rangoon Post
After Supreme Court Ruling
US Retailers Stepping Up Use of
Sweatshops in Burma, Evading US Sanctions
Rights Groups Ask Administration to Close
Loopholes US Companies in Partnership with Brutal Military
Regime
In the wake of the Supreme Court's June 20 ruling striking down a Massachusetts law restricting trade with Burma, one of the world's most brutally repressive regimes, human and labor rights groups are calling on the Clinton Administration to hold major American retailers accountable. The Administration argued that existing federal sanctions against Burma pre-empted the Massachusetts law. The National Labor Committee for Human Rights (NLC) released a study today that cites some of America's best-known retailers, including Kohl's department stores, Adidas, Warner Brothers, Macy's, Montgomery Ward, Sports Authority, Jordache, Burlington Coat Factory and others, for their use of sweatshops in Burma. Charles Kernaghan, NLC's Director, said "The sweatshops in Burma used by many American apparel makers are joint venturers with companies owned by the repressive military regime. They pay some of the lowest wages we've seen anywhere in the world." According to the NLC study, Burmese contractors producing for US firms pay as little as four cents per hour for a forty-five hour work week. Simon Billenness, a coordinator of the New England Burma Roundtable and senior analyst with Trillium Asset Management in Boston, called on the Clinton Administration to investigate whether the companies are violating an Executive Order prohibiting new investment in Burma. Billenness said, "If this behavior doesn't violate the order, the President should close loopholes so that American companies cannot continue to provide revenues for one of the world's cruelest and most corrupt regimes." The Burmese junta is a business partner of the sweatshops used by American companies, and is in business with the leading Burmese heroin producers exporting to the US, according to the US State Department. The United Nations has also cited Burma for the use of forced labor. In the first study of Burmese imports since the US imposed sanctions on Burma, the NLC compared aggregate data on imports collected by the US Commerce Department and US Customs with items found in the stores of major American retailers. According to the NLC's study, US companies have increased their imports from Burma dramatically over the past several years. The NLC's analysis shows that US imports of apparel from Burma grew 49 percent in 1998, 45 percent in 1999, and 85% in the first quarter of 2000. Kernaghan cited the revenues from Burmese sweatshop exports to the US through American retailers as a growing source of income bolstering the military regime. US Says Speed Is Worst Drug Menace
By Matthew Pennington
Associated Press Writer Friday, June 23, 2000; 11:50 a.m. EDT BANGKOK, Thailand –– Methamphetamine, also known as speed, is the worst
drug menace facing the United States and a growing threat in Asia, the U.S. drug
control chief said Friday.
Criminal organizations that produce heroin have found that methamphetamine
is easy to make and offers bigger profits, said Barry McCaffrey, the White House
national drug policy director.
Stimulants also pose a huge threat in Thailand, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong
and Japan, he said in Bangkok, on the last leg of a three-nation Asian tour.
His eight-day tour seeks to promote international cooperation against the
complex criminal networks that dominate the trade in illegal drugs.
McCaffrey, in Thailand after stops in China and Vietnam – the first made to
those countries by a U.S. drug policy chief, met with Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai, narcotics chiefs, army and police officials.
Thailand regards methamphetamine, mostly produced by ethnic armies in
neighboring Myanmar, as its biggest social menace and national security threat.
Myanmar is also known as Burma.
McCaffrey said law enforcement worldwide needs to respond to the threat
posed by synthetic drugs that can be made by small producers, not just the major
criminal organizations.
They pose a new challenge to Thailand – which with Laos and Myanmar make up
Southeast Asia's opium-producing Golden Triangle – after its "enormous success"
in the past 20 years in reducing cultivation of opium, the raw material of
heroin, and combatting addiction to that drug.
McCaffrey said methamphetamine has become the dominant drug problem in the
United States, "in South Carolina, Hawaii, Georgia and the central part of our
agricultural states."
Most of the methamphetamine available in the United States is produced in
Mexico and California, he said.
McCaffrey noted that ecstasy, a euphoria-inducing hallucinogen chemically
similar to methamphetamine and widely available in the United States and Europe,
is spreading to countries like Thailand and China.
In a sign of its spread in Southeast Asia, Malaysian authorities this week
seized ecstasy pills and synthetic drugs worth $68 million in the country's
biggest narcotics haul, according to Malaysian news reports Friday. Eleven
people were arrested.
On the eve of McCaffrey's' visit, a cache of chemicals – enough to produce
72 million methamphetamine pills – was seized Thursday at the Thai-Myanmar
border, Thai authorities said Friday.
Thai narcotics authorities estimate that 600 million methamphetamine pills
will be smuggled into Thailand from Myanmar this year.
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