News From Today's Publications

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June 14th, 1997
The Nation
Goods piling up after closure of Burmese border checkpoint 



THAI border merchants have complained of suffering great losses 
following Burma's sudden closure of a checkpoint in Tak province. 

Seven commercial banks located in the province's Mae Sot district were 
seen serving few customers yesterday, in sharp contrast to the usually 
crowded scene on Fridays. 

Burma's Myawaddi authorities ordered the checkpoint closed on Thursday 
without prior notice. 

The closure occurred after Thai authorities suspended operations at five 
ports along the Moei River, claiming the move was meant to curb the 
smuggling of Burmese workers into Thailand. The action was taken after a 
tense boundary dispute between the two countries recently. 

However, the purpose of the Burmese closure is still not clear, although 
some suspect it may be related to the boundary incident. 

Paniti Tangpati, an adviser to Tak's Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday 
that the group has already sent a letter to the Burmese side informing 
them that the closing of ports was only meant to maintain immigration 
controls. 

''We want to make it clear to the Burmese that the closing of ports was 
aimed only at keeping order, although it has affected the flow of 
goods," he said. ''We are suffering a great loss as a result of the 
closing of the [Burmese] checkpoint, as consumer goods are piled up on 
the Thai side," he said. 

It was reported that Mae Sot district has so far lost Bt20 million as a 
result of the closure. 

Paniti added that the Chamber of Commerce has already held discussions 
with operators of the port. It was agreed that all port workers would be 
registered and given uniforms to prevent Burmese from working illegally. 
He would present the measure to government authorities for consideration 
on Monday, he said. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Surapong Jayanama said yesterday Thailand and 
Burma plan to settle their dispute over the border area of Khok Chang 
Puek opposite Ban Rim Moei in Tak province during the upcoming Joint 
Boundary Committee meeting. 

Surapong said the JBC meeting, which will be chaired by the countries' 
deputy foreign ministers, is tentatively scheduled for June 30 to July 2 
in Thailand. Authorities failed to settle the dispute in talks held 
earlier this week.

Thai-Burmese national health council to tackle cross-border health 
problems



posted 21:00 hrs (Bangkok time) 



BANGKOK, June 14 -- Attempting to suppress an eminent explosion of 
several deadly infectious diseases, Thailand has proposed a meeting of 
Thai-Burmese national health committee to work out a common policy and 
measures to curb and combat the spread of some illnesses previously 
extinct from the Kingdom. 

The meeting scheduled here in late July will bring together, for the 
first time, senior Thai and Burmese health authorities to cooperate on 
crossborder health problems that are seriously affecting both countries, 
said an informed source. 

Apart from an agreement to cooperate in combatting common infectious 
diseases, the meeting hopes to discuss and come up with a concrete plan 
on prevention and elimination of the illnesses including an 
establishment of provincial health Thai-Burmese networks or committees 
that would work together on the ground, added the source. 

According to the source, Thailand will soon call an internal meeting of 
provincial health authorities to discuss the problems in each border 
provinces and measures needed to deal with them. 

The source expressed hope that the joint national health committee would 
be able to work out various approaches and contingency plans to deal 
with different communicable deadly diseases rampant in different 
provinces.

Consumers' organisation urges paraquat ban 



BY JAMES FAHN 

A CONSUMERS' organisation has called for a ban on the sale of paraquat, 
an extremely toxic pesticide currently being marketed in Thailand by a 
Danish company despite a ban on the agro-chemical in Denmark. 

Meanwhile, a report by the Southeast Asia Information Network (Sain) 
that 10,000 litres of the pesticide were sold in Burma was confirmed by 
the company involved, but denied by the Burmese government. 

Saree Angsamwong of the Consumers Foundation said that her organisation 
has called for a ban on the sale of paraquat ­ a potent herbicide often 
used to kill weeds along roadsides, around homes and on rubber, palm and 
sugar plantations ­ because of its public health and environmental 
impacts. 

Considered one of the ''dirty dozen" pesticides, paraquat has already 
been banned by nine countries, including Denmark, but the Danish firm 
East Asiatic Co Ltd (EAC) still sells the agro-chemical in Southeast 
Asia under the trade name Gramoxone. 

''We would like to ask the Danish company whether it's right to sell 
paraquat in Thailand and Burma, even though it's banned in Denmark," 
said Saree. ''We are quite concerned about this evident use of double 
standards." 

Sajja Tinarakorn, of EAC's agricultural division in Thailand, said that 
paraquat has been banned in Denmark because the Scandinavian country's 
economy depends on dairy products rather than agricultural crops as in 
Thailand. 

''Denmark has little need for herbicides as they mostly tend cows, but 
Asian countries produce food for the entire world," Sajja said. He added 
that paraquat has been used in Thailand for 30 years and no one has died 
from using it on crops, although it is sometimes used to commit suicide. 
The pesticide causes lung failure if ingested, as it concentrates in the 
lung tissue and kills cells critical to the exchange of oxygen. A dose 
of three to five grammes (less than a teaspoon) is considered lethal for 
adult males. Milder exposure can cause skin problems, rashes and burns. 

Officials at the Agricultural Chemistry Division in the Ministry of 
Agriculture declined to speak to The Nation about the issue, but 
Supranee Impitak, who analyses pesticide residues on crops for export, 
said she believes paraquat is used extensively in sugar cane fields. 

''I don't have any reports on paraquat residues in sugar or on sugar 
cane, but I understand that residues don't show up on tests because the 
chemical is used to clear the fields of weeds before the crop is 
planted," Supranee said. 

Paraquat is produced at a factory in Thailand belonging to Zeneca Agro 
Asiatic Co Ltd (ZAAC). EAC Thailand owns 49 per cent of the venture, 
according to Sain and Danish news agency Ritzau, while the UK-based 
company Zeneca, formerly part of ICI, reportedly owns the remaining 51 
per cent. 

Sain reported on Monday that a representative of Zeneca is currently in 
Burma to follow up on a previous sale of 10,000 litres of paraquat made 
earlier this year, a sale the network condemned as ''the lowest form of 
business". 

''There are no mechanisms used in Burma to ensure workers' health and 
safety," said Sain's Faith Doherty. ''It is certain that the pesticide 
will be used by local people through the orders of local military 
authorities. Information about the pesticide and safety and care will 
not be distributed to the people. 

''This substance is lethal no matter where it is used in Burma, the sale 
of paraquat amounts to aiding and abetting more suffering and death for 
the farmers of Burma," Doherty claimed. 

Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) 
subsequently released an information sheet questioning the accuracy of 
Sain's report and declaring that, ''Neither the government of Myanmar 
[Burma] nor the private sector has any plans to buy or import paraquat". 

But Ritzau said that EAC officials in Denmark and Zeneca officials in 
the UK have both confirmed the sale. Meanwhile, ZAAC's Steve Renshaw 
told the French news agency Agence France-Presse that the latest 
shipment of the chemical was received by a Rangoon distributor named 
Forward Co Ltd in January of this year. Zeneca has reportedly trained 
Burmese farmers and civil servants in the proper use of agro-chemicals 
as recently as two weeks ago. 

Sajja also pointed out that pesticide distributors in Thailand have 
teamed up to educate Thai farmers in the proper handling and use of 
agro-chemicals. Slorc's press release added that the chemical is still 
being used in the US, the UK and Germany and has not been banned by the 
UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation. But Sain's Doherty noted that 
the proper use of paraquat requires applicators to wear rubber clothing, 
a practice rarely carried out in tropical countries because of the 
extreme heat.

The Straits Times (Singapore)
Myanmar seals post in escalation of border dispute with Thailand 



<Picture>
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BANGKOK -- Myanmar has sealed a key frontier post facing Thailand, in a 
sharp escalation of a simmering boundary dispute. 

According to television reports on Thursday, the border post in Mae Sot 
district of the western Thai province of Tak was closed during the day, 
cutting off the passage of all trade people. 

National television said that Myanmar shut the border after the two 
countries failed to reach an agreement over a disputed boundary along 
the Moei River which divided them, and also over a Thai ban on the 
export of a small onion native to Myanmar. 

The closure came after heavily-armed Thai and Myanmar troops were locked 
in a tense stand-off last month and early this month on a disputed 
island in the river. 

Late last month, rival troops armed with tanks and heavy weapons 
manoeuvred within metres of each other, attempting to gain a better 
position to claim the disputed land. 

The two sides have been holding talks over the issue, but all attempts 
to find a diplomatic solution have failed. 

The stand-off began last month after Myanmar refused to act on a Thai 
request that construction workers dredging the banks of the island in an 
attempt to divert the Moei River cease operations. 

Thai troops were stationed across from the workers in order to force the 
issue, and Myanmar soldiers were sent in to protect them. 

The showdown came after the river changed course after severe flooding 
during the rainy season several years ago, and Thailand holds that under 
existing agreements the demarcation of the border must change as a 
result. 

Myanmar was said to be attempting to divert the river back to its 
original course in a bid to win back territory lost through the natural 
phenomenon. 

The Foreign Ministry said that Thailand had sent an aide memoire to 
Myanmar on Nov 23, 1995, putting forth its claims. 

A Thai official dealing with treaties and legal affairs has held talks 
with his counterpart but Myanmar refused to accept the Thai position. 

In another development, around 3,000 ethnic Karen villagers have fled 
into northern Thailand from their homes in Myanmar over the past two 
months, sources said yesterday. 

They said that the villagers wanted to escape abuses by forces of the 
Yangon military junta. 

According to the sources at the border, Myanmar troops have forced whole 
villages in the Papun district of northern Karen state to relocate as 
part of a drive to cut off support for ethnic rebel forces still 
battling Yangon. 

The exodus came after Yangon began in February a massive sweep through 
territory in eastern Myanmar held by the Karen National Union, the only 
major ethnic insurgency which has not reached a ceasefire with the 
junta. -- AFP.

Myanmar junta chief orders crackdown on drug production 



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YANGON -- Myanmar's top general has called on officials to move quickly 
to halt the production of narcotic drugs in the country's border 
regions, the official press reported here yesterday. Senior General Than 
Shwe, chairman of the ruling junta, the State Law and Order Restoration 
Council (Slorc), urged speedy action in implementing the government's 
"master plan" to develop border areas. 

"All out efforts must be made for eradication of the menace of narcotic 
drugs and border-area development," the New Light of Myanmar daily 
quoted him as saying. 

He told a special meeting of the junta's central committee for 
border-area development that the two issues were "interconnected". 

The bulk of the world's crop of opium -- from which heroin is derived -- 
is grown in the mountainous terrain of eastern Myanmar, while production 
of amphetamine-type stimulants, is reported to be growing rapidly in the 
area. 

Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Slorc's first secretary and intelligence 
chief told the meeting that billions of kyat, Myanmar's currency, had 
been invested in developing the border region. It is 160 kyat to US$1 
(S$1.41) at the prevailing market rate. 

Money from government coffers was being supplemented with assistance 
from the United Nations and other external organisations, he said. 

The comments from top junta officials counter international criticism of 
Slorc's alleged failure to clamp down on narcotics production. 

The United States, in particular, has slammed Slorc for allegedly 
harbouring drug kingpins and allowing ethnic insurgencies which have 
signed ceasefires with the junta to continue producing and trafficking 
narcotics. 

Meanwhile, the official media gave wide coverage to the 85th session of 
the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, where the Myanmar 
delegation trumpeted "unprecedented achievements" in national 
development. -- AFP.




"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



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