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Burma's help sought over controvers



Burma's help sought over controversy

19.2.98
Tha Nation

Rita Patiyasevi

Thailand will seek Rangoon's cooperation in putting a quick end to a probe
into the Salween logging scandal, Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand
Paribatra said yesterday.

Sukhumbhand will today chair a special meeting of senior officials to
coordinate and gather information on the case before going to Burma next
month.

The minister said although the deforestation of the Salween National Park
is Thailand's problem and Thai authorities must solve it, the logs were
sent into Burma through the Salween river and then brought back.

"Logs are among 28 items which the Burmese government prohibits from being
exported out of the country," he said.

Burma allows the export of  processed wood and furniture but not cut logs.
Most logging concession areas, with or without Rangoon's consent, are in
the hands of an ethnic minority near the Thai border.

Sukhumbhand said the Salween scandal will be dealt with immediately since
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has indicated the urgency and importance of
the issue.

"In the past, the Thai government may not have paid much attention to the
problem," he said, adding that the area is difficult to control.

The plunder of Salween, which has been described as the biggest
deforestation scandal since commercial logging was banned in 1989, came
into the spotlight last week when deputy forestry director general Prawat
Thanadka tried, but failed, to donate Bt5 million in cash believed to have
been given as a bribe to the Thai-help-Thai fund.

Chuan said that he would set up a committee to investigate the illegal
logging in the Salween National Park after six forestry officials in charge
of the park were transferred. .

According to the National Security Council, illegal logging has been
carried out since the middle of 1996 when Thai logging firms were allowed
to import logs  to Burma on a case-by-case basis.

The police report also claimed that the illegal business has created an
uneasy situation along the Thai-Burmese border.