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

Posted news from scb 17-8(10)



Subject:	Ongoing Fight Against the Global Menace
>From:	Thinzar Khine <Thinzar@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date:	Mon, 17 Aug 1998 11:25:29 +0200


--------------9495BBBB4D8AF1A05581F8F1
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Ongoing Fight Against the Global Menace
Perspectives, The NLM, Wednesday, 5 August 1998

Myanmar has been consistently combating narcotic drugs.  Members of the
Tatmadaw, the
police and the mass of the people joined hands in the fight, which had
been costly for quite
sometime when there were numerous armed groups engaged in drug
trafficking.

The Tatmadaw government then took new moves in its fight against the
menace.  With
positive outlook, it began implementing projects designed to bring
development to border
areas and national races there.  Its constructive measures received
similar reciprocation from
the armed groups which had been opposing successive Myanmar governments
for decades.

One armed group after another had come to realize their past misdeeds.
Thousands of
members of the MTA armed group led by U Khun Sa, for instance, have
exchanged their
arms for peace.  Today, they are actively carrying out development
projects in their region.
Similar groups which also exchanged their arms for peace have declared
or are striving to
declare opium free zones.

In the battle against narcotic drugs, Myanmar is not going it alone but
doing so in cooperation
and coordination with neighbouring countries as well as with countries
in the region.
Myanmar has bilateral agreements on drug matters with India, Bangladesh,
Vietnam, Russia,
Laos and the Philippines.   We have Memorandums of Understanding with
Cambodia, China,
Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

There are annual meetings and some of the 12 projects of the Subregional
Action Plan are in
the process of being implemented.  We are also in the process of
coordinating the
implementation of the ten ASEAN Drug Control Projects.  At the same
time, Myanmar is
working in close cooperation with the United Nations Drug Control
Programme.

The drug problem is socio-economic by nature and it is therefore
necessary to find an in-
depth answer which is flexible enough and multi-faceted to implement
with momentum.
Accordingly, Myanmar has laid down a two-point national strategy for
narcotic drugs control.
The two points are: to designate narcotic drug eradication and
prevention as a national
responsibility and to carry out this responsibility with added momentum;
and to gradually
eliminate poppy cultivation by raising the standard of living of the
national races in the
border areas.

Employing these two strategies, the three tactics of Supply elimination,
Demand Elimination
and Law Enforcement, and the three methods, Myanmar continues its fight
against narcotic
drugs with the aim of eradicating them within 15 years.  With shared
concern and collective
efforts, Myanmar will be able to eradicate drugs sooner than targeted.

**********