[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
SLORC'S DRUG COMMITMENT QUESTIONED
- Subject: SLORC'S DRUG COMMITMENT QUESTIONED
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 17:44:00
Burma's Drug Commitment
Questioned
By ROBERT HORN
Associated Press Writer
Monday, June 16, 1997 1:45 am EDT
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Burma's military regime says
700 of its soldiers have been killed and 2,200
wounded battling
opium warlords in Burmese jungles since 1988.
But during that same period, Burma's production of
opium -- the
raw material for heroin -- has increased from less
than 1,000
tons to 2,560 tons a year, making it the world's
largest opium
producer.
So is Burma really fighting drugs?
Several Western governments are skeptical about the
Rangoon
regime's attempts to eliminate opium growing and
say they fear
drug money is becoming a serious component in Burma's
economy.
Col. Kyaw Thein, a key figure in Burma's anti-drug
activities,
rejects the questions, calling them politically
motivated. He says
it is his government's obligation to fight narcotics.
``But this is a complicated matter. We need more
time,'' he
adds.
Rangoon's most vocal critic has been the United
States, which in
April slapped Burma with economic sanctions for the
military's
increased repression of the democracy movement.
The U.S. State Department accuses the military
regime of
lacking the ``resources, the ability or the will to
take serious
action against ethnic drug trafficking groups.''
It also says the military is allowing some major
traffickers to
attend the country's constitutional convention as
representatives
of ethnic minorities.
A recent State Department report said 15 percent of
foreign
investment in Burma goes through a company owned by
relatives
of Lo Hsing-han, a major drug trafficker.
Nonetheless, the State Department says there is no
evidence
high-ranking Burmese officials are involved in the
drug business.
And some paint a more positive picture of the
regime's efforts,
noting the opium is grown in remote regions where
various
groups have fought Rangoon's control for decades.
``The Burmese are serious about fighting the drug
trade,'' says
Gerald Moore, former director of the United Nations
Drug
Control Program in Rangoon. ``A lot of what you
read about
Burmese involvement in drug trafficking just isn't
justified.''