Opium Warlord Offers Deal

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/* Written  1:13 PM  Jul 19, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Opium Warlord Offers Deal" ---------- */
Subject : Opium Warlord Offers Deal for Free Shan State

   BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Khun Sa, the notorious "Golden
Triangle" opium warlord, has offered to end opium growing in
Burma's Shan state and surrender in exchange for a Burmese
military pullout from the northern part of the country.
   "In response to the reports in the New York Times, I would
like to offer to give myself up to the international community
in exchange for the independence of Shan state," Khun Sa said
in a statement dated Saturday and faxed to Reuters Sunday by a
spokesman, Khuensai Chayane.
   The New York Times Friday reported that Burma's military
leaders were offering the United States a deal that they would
topple Khun Sa if the United States would lift its arms embargo
on Rangoon.
   Khun Sa's statement said there was "no need to support the
universally-hated Burmese military in order to catch me. I'm, as
I always have been, fighting for independence. If the right of
self-determination of our people is recognized and guaranteed,
and the Burmese shall withdraw from our homeland, I will
sacrifice myself...."
   The statement, signed by Khun Sa in his capacity of
self-declared president of the Shan State Restoration Council,
also said the Shan people would voluntarily stop growing opium
once they won freedom.
   But he warned that opium cultivation would continue if the
Burmese junta did not grant the Shan state freedom.
   "With the victory of the Burmese military, the people shall
only be more oppressed and suppressed, which will force them to
rely more and more on poppy cultivation in order to survive,"
he added. Opium is the source of heroin.
   The 60-year-old Khun Sa, alias Chang Si-fu, is half Chinese
half Shan and commands the 20,000-strong Mong Tai Army (MTA),
which has been engaged in fighting with thousands of Burma's
troops since late last year.
   Khun Sa's statement offering to surrender is viewed here as
likely to get a cool response from the U.S government, which
previously turned down an offer by him to eradicate opium from
Shan state in exchange for $390 million. That demand was seen as
an attempt at extortion by a narcotics trafficker.
   In early 1990 Khun Sa was indicted by a U.S. court on
charges of heroin trafficking in the United States.
   He denies the charge and maintains he only taxes opium
traders who travel through areas his forces control in the
Golden Triangle, one of the world's richest opium producing
areas where the borders of Burma, Laos and Thailand meet.


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