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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEP 10, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmnar junta helping drug smugglers expand: Thai
militaryAFP - Myanmar junta defends education
system
Bkk Post - Junta lends helping hand to
smugglers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, September 10 2:54 PM SGT
Myanmnar junta helping drug smugglers expand: Thai military MAE SOT, Thailand, Sept 10 (AFP) - Myanmar's government is helping
major heroin and amphetamine producers expand their scope of influence, Thai
military sources said Sunday.
Yangon is helping the United Wa State Army and Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army (DKBA) -- two ethnic minority militias deeply involved in the heroin and
amphetamine trade -- to expand their operations along the Thai-Myanmar border,
Fourth Infantry civilian affairs chief Prasan Saengsirirath said.
The junta has allowed the Wa and DKBA to join forces on some smuggling runs
and to increase their number of factories and refineries, he said at a meeting
of military, police and district leaders in the western Thai border town of Mae
Sot
The two ethnic minority militias have upped their production of
amphetamines and are now smuggling over 10 million amphetamine pills a month
into Thailand, he said.
Thai authorities last month arrested two Wa and two Karen trying to enter
Thailand with 400,000 speed pills.
Myanmar's junta denies claims that it granted permission to the Wa and DKBA
to manufacture drugs in return for them giving up their fight against the
government.
Yangon, determined to shed the country's status as an alleged narcotics
producer, says it has introduced a drug eradication program which will wipe out
domestic production within 15 years.
The United States and many other Western states have imposed economic and
political sanctions on Myanmar accusing the military junta of widespread human
rights violations and allowing the drug trade to fluorish.
But now the Thai army has begun to fight back against the traffickers in a
bid to stem the flow of drugs into Thailand.
The Fourth Infantry has been ordered to step up surveillance of the
Thai-Myanmar border and check convoys coming from Myanmar more closely,
Mae Sot district chief Samart Loyfa said.
"We will close the (Mae Sot) pier if we found drugs have been smuggled via
that pier" he said.
Thailand's military has previously said it is shifting the focus of its
anti-narcotics campaign to the western border with Myanmar and away from the
eastern regions adjoining Laos and Cambodia.
The four western provinces of Chiang Mai, Chaing Rai, Mae Hong Son and Tak
will become special targets for the military.
Thai community leaders say drug addiction is reaching crisis proportions,
with more than 600,000 Thai youths hooked on cheap supplies of
amphetamines.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, September 10 12:09 AM SGT
Myanmar junta defends education system YANGON, Sept 9 (AFP) -
Myanmar's endeavours to promote universal education have been a success despite
activities by the opposition to derail it, a member of the ruling military junta
said Saturday.
"School attendence is up by 91 per cent and the illiteracy rate is down to
only nine per cent at the primary level," said Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt,
the first secretary of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) -- the
official name of the ruling military regime.
He was speaking at a ceremony marking the Universal Day of Education for
Year 2000.
Khin Nyunt, who is also chairman of the National Education Committee said
Myanmar was in the process of introducing compulsory primary education after
having successfully established universal primary education at junior high
school level.
"Myanmar has been placed in category of countries in the Asia-Pacific
region with the highest literacy rates and is ready to meet the challenges of
the 21st century," Nyunt said.
Myanmar was achieving success in the education sector despite efforts by a
group of "destructionists," he added.
Nyunt said a video of an education seminar held on August 21 here between
the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) and 15 visiting foreigners was smuggled abroad with the aim of
deliberately disrupting studies here.
"These destructive acts are being encouraged by certain superpowers who
continue to interfere in Myanmar's internal affairs," the general said.
The NLD invited a group, including academics, youth workers and student
union representatives, to join 200 opposition members who held an education
forum in the capital.
At the forum, Aung San Suu Kyi urged governments and student groups to
campaign for education to be made freely available in Myanmar, and not to be
used as a political tool.
"The universities have been reopened in July because of pressure on the
government but this is a mere surface job to make people believe there has been
progress in Myanmar," said the Nobel peace laureate.
Myanmar's universities have been sporadically closed since a popular
uprising in the summer of 1988 threatened to topple the military regime.
The Yangon junta imposed strict restrictions on universities in the wake of
a student revolt in December 1996, formally suspending classes for all second
and third-year university students.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Sep 10, 2000.
BURMA -Junta lends helping hand to smugglers Border drug-busting measures stepped up Supamart Kasem in Tak The Burmese government is helping the United Wa State Army and the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army expand their influence along the border area
opposite Tak province.
Cross-border smuggling of methamphetamine pills and other contraband has
increased as well as stolen vehicles smuggled into Burma.
The matter was raised at a meeting of Mae Sot border security officials
chaired by district chief Samart Loyfa.
Military representatives, administrative officials, border patrol police,
customs officials, kamnans and village chiefs, border village volunteers and
traders attended the meeting.
Maj Prasarn Saengsirirak, civilian affairs chief of the Fourth Infantry
Regiment Task Force, said border units were ordered to step up measures against
drug trafficking and car smuggling.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuangwong, the Third Army Region commander,
suggested nine boat landings north and south of the Thai-Burmese Friendship
Bridge be closely watched. He said all goods bound for Burma should be brought
over the bridge.
Mr Samart said Thai authorities arrested one Thai man and four Karen on Aug
23 with 400,000 speed pills at Ban Huay Muang boat landing. Two of the Karens
were DKBA soldiers and one was a captain.
Pol Maj Noppakhun Bamrungpong, deputy commander of the 345th Border Patrol
Police Company, said DKBA soldiers were involved in smuggling stolen cars and
motorcycles into Burma.
Border police patrols have had to fire at DKBA soldiers providing
protection for smugglers on the other side of the Moei river.
Pol Maj Noppakhun suggested all vehicle exports bound for Burma travel
through the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge.
A source at the Region 3 Customs Office in Chiang Mai said one car dealer
asked the Third Army if he could export 34 cars through another river crossing
but was turned down.
"We spent millions of baht to build the bridge to facilitate cross-border
activities. I don't understand why the company wanted to send the cars through
another channel," he said.
A border official said Wa and DKBA soldiers were often seen visiting
restaurants and night spots on the Thai side after official border passes were
closed. He doubted Thai officials were paid to facilitate cross-border
activities after dark. |