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Myanmar Urges Western Countries to
- Subject: Myanmar Urges Western Countries to
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 21:21:00
Subject: Myanmar Urges Western Countries to Stop Finger pointing on Drug Fight
Asia:Myanmar
Xinhua
10-NOV-98
Myanmar Urges Western
Countries to Stop Finger-
pointing on Drug Fight
YANGON (Nov. 10) XINHUA - Myanmar has urged the western
countries,
which are seriously affected and inflicted by narcotic drug
menace, not only to
stop fingerpointing and scapegoating others, but also to
seriously find more
realistic and practical methods to tackle the drug menace
problem.
A latest official report on the political situation of
Myanmar, issued by the Office
of Strategic Studies (OSS) of the Defense Ministry, points
out that "pressuring
others to accept and carry out methods, which have
undeniably failed in the past,
will definitely not help in our fight against narcotic drugs".
The report cites Myanmar's method in dealing with former
drug warlord Khun
Sa, saying that, in spite of all the natural obstacles and
man-made difficulties
imposed by the Western nations, it managed single-handedly
to disband his army
after his unconditional surrender in January 1996 and then
to have Khun Sa and
his top aides under government custody and supervision.
"His troops were sent back to their respective villages to
live and work there as
normal citizens, while the leaders were also given financial
and other assistance
to start a new life doing legitimate business," the report
says.
Myanmar government described the surrender of Khun Sa as one
of its two
major wins since taking over of state power in late 1988.
In spite of the fact, the report says, the western world,
especially the United
States and the United Kingdom, have continued in accusing
Myanmar of not
being serious in the fight against narcotic drugs, not
extraditing Khun Sa to the
U.S. and not prosecuting him and other ethnic leaders.
On survey of opium cultivation and production in Myanmar,
the report charges
that the western nations have reported differently.
According to the figures released by the OSS at the end of
1997, there was a
wide gap existing in the forecasts made by Myanmar and the
U.S. on the
cultivation and production of opium.
According to Myanmar's related data which were based on
ground survey and
calculation, there were 9,751 hectares in poppy cultivation
and 106 tons in
opium production in 1996, but according to the U.S. data
which were based on
satellite images, there were respectively 162,496 hectares
and 2,560 tons which
were enough to produce at least 250 tons of refined heroin.
However, there is no comparison for 1997 in the report.
Meanwhile, the report
claims that Myanmar has prevented 45 billion U.S. dollars
worth of heroin from
reaching streets of the U.S. since 1988 up to date despite
cut in assistance by
the U.S. since then.
According to official statistics, in the first six months of
this year, Myanmar
seized a total of 4,927 kilograms of narcotics including 219
kg of heroin and
4,471 kg of opium, destroying 15 heroin refineries and over
8,000 hectares of
poppy plantations.
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