Reuters-France to boycott Myanmar I

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Subject: Reuters-France to boycott Myanmar Interpol conference

France to boycott Myanmar Interpol conference
11:19 a.m. Feb 16, 1999 Eastern
PARIS, Feb 16 (Reuters) - France will join other Western countries in
boycotting an Interpol conference on heroin production and trafficking in
Myanmar later this month, Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said on Tuesday.

``Because of the peculiar conditions in this country...we have decided
against sending a French delegation to this conference,'' Vedrine told the
National Assembly in answer to a question.

The plan to hold the conference in Myanmar, one of the world's leading
heroin producers, raised eyebrows among many diplomats and provoked
condemnation by critics of the Yangon military government.

The United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway have said
they will not attend.