[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Aid to curb Myanmar opium could tot (r)



Whether it is japan or the United Nations or the US DEA there is nothing to
stop the production of opium unless the Burmese military cooperate or cease
to transport and market the opium. The SPDC is the sole authority on opium
production in Burma.  There is no beating around the bush. After all the
SPDC is the government of Burma and hold the 45 million people under
oppression and tyranny and when the ruler of Burma decides to stop the
production of opium it will stop. There is no other way.
-----Original Message-----
To: Recipients of burmanet-l <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, April 09, 1998 6:20 PM
Subject: Aid to curb Myanmar opium could total up to Yen 700 million


>>From soba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  Thu Apr  9 06:14:20 1998
>
>The Japan Times,
>
>Page -3
>
>9 April 1988.
>
>Aid to curb Myanmar opium could total up to Yen 700 million
>
>By HISANE MASAKI
>
>Staff writer
>
>Japan will provide between Yen 500 million and Yen 700 million in
>grant-in-aid to help Myanmar increase production of alternative crops
>to opium along its northeastern border with Thailand and Laos, Foreign
>Ministry sources said Wednesday.
>
>The decision to provide the official development assistance - the
>first full-scale grant-in-aid given to Myanmar in nearly 2.5 years -
>will be formally approved at a Cabinet meeting early next month, the
>sources said.
>
>The sources said the funds will be used to purchase tractors and
>fertilizers for farmers in an opium-producing area in northeastern
>Myanmar. The so-called Golden Triangle region, comprising parts of
>Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, is notorious for cultivating huge amounts
>of the crop.
>
>The sources said that although Japan also provided Yen 1 billion in
>grant-in-aid in March 1995 to help Myanmar increase agricultural
>production in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, the use of that
>aid was not limited to the country*s northeastern opium-producing
>area.
>
>The sources indicated that the 1995 aid was not properly used by the
>government and said that Japan-in cooperation with the United Nations
>Drug Control Program - will strictly monitor the use of new aid money
>to ensure that it is not diverted to other purposes.
>
>The aid will be the largest grant-in-aid given to Myanmar since
>October 1995, when Tokyo provided Yen 1.6 billion to the country*s
>capital, Yangon, for repairs to a nurse training school.
>
>Since the military took power of Myanmar in a 1988 coup, Japan has
>effectively suspended official development assistance - both grant-in
>aid and low-interest yen loans - for Yangon except for what it views
>as humanitarian purposes.
>
>Although Japan decided last month to disburse about Yen 2.5 billion in
>yen loans for the repair of Yangon*s international airport, government
>officials have unanimously insisted that the first yen-loan in a
>decade is for the "purely humanitarian" purpose of ensuring safety at
>the aging airport.
>
>The decision to provide the airport loans has drawn some criticism
>both at home and abroad because of the military regime*s continued
>crackdown on the prodemocracy movement, led by opposition leader and
>Nobel Pease Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
>
>Japan has recently shown a readiness to play a more active role in
>addressing the drug issue in Myanmar and elsewhere in Asia. Japan,
>Myanmar and the UNDCP jointly sponsored an international seminar in
>Yangon on March 31 and April 1 to discuss ways to develop alternative
>crops to opium.
>
>Although Japan has already made financial contributions to the UNDCP*s
>anti-drug operation in Myanmar, the seminar marked the first time that
>Japan had jointly sponsored an international meeting in Yangon on the
>drug issue. A special session of the U.N. General Assembly on drugs is
>also scheduled for June in New York.
>
>The Yangon seminar which brought together senior officials from nearly
>30 governments and international organizations, was aimed at
>strengthening efforts by Myanmar and other Asian countries to
>eradicate the drug problem though an exchange of information and
>experience on developing alternative crops to opium.
>
>*******************************
>
>