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This is the BEST way to fight drugs



Subject: This is the BEST way to fight drugs.

This is the BEST way to fight drugs.

Sai Kyaw Sein

*****************************************

Bangkok Post-Aug 16, 1999.
Surayud: Aid for development of Wa best way to fight drugs
Ethnic group needs international help

Veera Prateepchaikul, Nusara Thaitawat, Subin Khuenkaew and Wassana Nanuam

Development aid for Mong Yawn and the southern military command of the
United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Burma's Shan State is the best strategy
against drug trafficking by the group, the army chief said.

Gen Surayud Chulanont said in an interview with the Bangkok Post that both
Thailand and Burma, which he referred to as "neighbour", had agreed on this
point.

"Both our neighbour and us agree that to provide alternative development to
the ethnic Wa was the best solution at this time to enable the people to
have other means of living," he said.

The army chief said the government was exploring the idea of approaching the
United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) or a private
organisation to come in and help the ethnic Wa.

The commander said he was not directly involved.

The United Wa State Party, the political arm of the UWSA which was formed in
1989 following the breakup of the Burma Communist Party of which the ethnic
Wa were a dominant faction, had appealed for international development aid
in 1993.

But letters of appeal, submitted to the UN and major aid donors were mostly
ignored because of the international boycott of the Burmese military rulers
in Rangoon. The UNDCP responded but faced much difficulty in raising funds
for an alternative development project in Ho Tao, in the south of the UWSP's
northern territory on the Chinese border, launched only last year.

But funding aside, the project which involves the governments of China and
Burma, the Wa leadership and the UNDCP could serve as an example for Mong
Yawn, located some 30km from the Thai border in Mae Ai district, Chiang Mai.

A private group based in Chiang Mai has already completed a "need
assessment" paper for Mong Yawn.

Gen Surayud's remarks follow tough military action against the UWSA drug
traffickers over the past month.

The 20-day operation involving 800 soldiers along a 50km stretch of the
border classified as most sensitive in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, and which
ended on July 31, had significantly destroyed the UWSA's network in the two
provinces.

The suppression drive was prompted by the brutal killing of nine Thai
villagers who accidentally stumbled on a Wa drug caravan.

Other operations involving smaller army units have been launched to keep up
the pressure on the UWSA.

The San Ton Du temporary border crossing in Mae Ai was officially closed
last week. Gen Surayud said he was not aware of any reaction from Burma, but
that the official channel would be the Foreign Ministry.

"We want to send a signal to the UWSA that they can no longer do as they
please," said Gen Surayud. "We want to make it most difficult for them," he
said, of the result of the closure of San Ton Du.

While no drugs have been found at the San Ton Du border crossing, its
closure was intended to disrupt the UWSA's massive infrastructure projects
in Mong Yawn, believed to be funded by its drugs trade in Thailand. The
projects include a hydro-electric dam being built under the supervision of
Chinese engineers from Yunnan, electricity and water supplies, and housing
for over 10,000 people.

Land was being cleared for agriculture and animal husbandry, and also to
settle more people being relocated from UWSA's northern territory. The UWSP
is headquartered in Panghsang near the Shan-Yunnan border.

An estimated 6,000 Thai workers are being employed by the UWSA to build its
infrastructure in Mong Yawn and the UWSA southern military command which
stretches from Mong Yawn to Mong Hsat.

Gen Surayud said that the army still believes that the Kiew Pa Wok temporary
border crossing in Chiang Dao district, some 40km from San Ton Du should be
closed as well because it also leads to Mong Yawn. The army had made the
recommendation to the Defence Ministry together with San Ton Du but was
rejected.

General Surayud said the anti-drug suppression was funded by the army's
budget without any financial aid from the government because it thought drug
scourge was a security threat.

But if the fund proved inadequate, he said the army would ask for more
budget from the government.



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