The BurmaNet News: February 4, 1999

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------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: February 4, 1999
Issue #1200

HEADLINES:
==========
INTERPOL: INVITATION TO 4TH INTERNATIONAL HEROIN CONFERENCE 
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: INTERPOL DRUG TALKS FURORE 
ANALYTICA BIRMANIE: THE INTERPOL-NARCOTICS TANGO IN RANGOON 
THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA MUST END ITS DRUG DEALS 
DAILY YOMIURI (JAPAN): 6 NATIONS SAY NO TO DRUGS AT SEMINAR 
SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION: STATEMENT ON INTERPOL MEETING 
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INTERPOL: INVITATION TO 4TH INTERNATIONAL HEROIN CONFERENCE 
16 November, 1999 

Our Ref.: Available in: Arabic

ICPO-Interpol           English  (Original)

No. 73DII/SD3/CONF/HER/99/1 French, Spanish

Subject: To: The Heads of the National Central  4th International Heroin
Conference Bureaus (Yangon, Myanmar, 23rd  26th February 1999)


We are pleased to inform you that Interpol General Secretariat will
organize in
close co-operation with the Government of the Union of Myanmar, the 4th
International Heroin Conference. The conference will take place at Yangon on
23d - 26 February 1999.

The conference will address the latest trends of the heroin production and
trafficking on the global level with a view to creating greater
coordination in
the regional and international drug control effort.

You are cordially invited to be represented at the conference by the senior
officials of the drug control agencies.  

The following information might be considered useful. 

Venue of the conference

The conference will be held at the International Business Centre, 6-1/2 Mile,
Pyay Road, Yangon.  Registration will take place at the Centre place on 22nd
February 1999 from 09.00 to 20.00 hours and on 23rd February 1999 from
07.00 to
09.00 hours.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place at the International Business
Centre on 23rd February 1999 at 10.00 hours.

 ../..

Agenda

A draft agenda for the conference is enclosed herewith. You are requested to
suggest any amendment or addition as soon as possible.

Working languages

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in Arabic, English, French and
Spanish provided that participants needing such interpretation have announced
that they will be attending at least one month before the conference.

Technical equipment  

Technical equipment will be available to enable delegates to make computer
presentations. 

Arrival and Hotel Reservations

The host country's Organizing Committee will ensure that participants are met
on arrival at Yangon airport. They will also be responsible for making hotel
reservations.  All delegates are requested to inform the Organizing Committee
of their flight numbers, dates and time of their arrival in Yangon.

Please complete the enclosed enrolment and hotel reservation form for each of
your countries participants. Hotel prices are indicated in U.S. dollars. The
forms should be returned to the Organizing Committee and a copy should be sent
to the General Secretariat, Drugs Sub-Directorate, before 1st February 1999.

Please note that photographs of delegates (5 x 5 cm) and of the persons
accompanying them must be stapled to the appropriate forms. The person's name
and country should be indicated on the back of each photograph. This will
facilitate the formalities and make it possible to prepare identity badges
beforehand.

Visa

All delegates are requested to contact the Myanmar Embassy/Consulate in their
respective countries for visa.

Social Programme

The Myanmar authorities have arranged a special social programme for the
delegates and their spouses including the visit to the historical and cultural
places.  There is also the possibility of an organized visit to the opium
poppy
fields. 

The day temperature during the conference days is expected to be 35 degrees
centigrade.  

Organizing Committee  

All queries can be directed to the Organizing Committee at the following
address:

Myanmar Police Force Headquarters 
Attention: Colonel Tin Maung Maung (Contact Officer) 
Corner of Saya San Road and Industry (1) Road, 
Bahan Tsp. Yangon, 
Union of Myanmar  
951 549266 
Fax: 951 545255 

X-400: C:MM/ADMD:A/PRMD:OIPC/O:Z7/0U:BCN/S:YANGOON 

For any additional information regarding the conference, Mr Iqbal Hussain
Rizvi, Interpol Drugs Liaison Officer based at the General Secretariat Drugs
Sub-Directorate can be contacted on telephone No. (33) 4.72.44.71.76, Fax No.
(33) 4.72.44.72.57, E-Mail: d2sd3@xxxxxxxxxxxx

R.E.  Kendall
Secretary General

Encl
- Appendix 1 : Draft Agenda
- Appendix 2 :  Enrolment and Hotel Reservation Form

Appendix 1

4th International Heroin Conference
Yangon, Myanmar, 23-26 February 1999

Provisional Agenda

1. Opening of the Conference

2. Election of officers

3. Adoption of Agenda

4. Nature and extent of the problem  
 a) Heroin production and trafficking in South East Asia 
 b) Heroin production and trafficking in South West Asia  
 c) Heroin production and trafficking in South America 

5. European trafficking routes and organizations

6. West African heroin trafficking networks

7. Payment systems for drug transactions

8. Precursor chemicals

9. Regional and international co-operation 

10. Any other business

Appendix 2

Country............

4th International Heroin Conference

Yangon, Myanmar, 23rd - 26th February 1999

Enrolment and Hotel Reservation Form
(Please use a separate form for each participant)

FAMILY NAME: ...............................
Forenames : .......................
Mailing address: ....................
Official position or duty title: .................
Accompanied by (e.g. wife, child): .......................

Arrival Date Departure Date ................
Yangon Time Yangon Time ...............
Flight No Flight No.........

(If you wish a reservation to be made, please tick the appropriate square
below)

SEDONA HOTEL***** Single room US$ 85
No-(l), Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, Double room US$ 105
Yankin Tsp., Suite US$ 145

Yangon, Myanmar
(951) 666900/666953/666959
Fax,. (951) 666356

MYA YEIK NYO ROYAL HOTEL***** Single (DC) US$ 75
No, 20, Pa'le Road, Bahan Tsp., Double (DC) US$ 85
Yangon, Myanmar Single room US$ 65
(951) 548.10/548317
Fax; (951) 665052/548318 Double room US$ 75
Tlx: 21523 ZAYCO BM Suite US$ 100      
Breakfast included 

Signature 

Please affix photograph 5x5

Please return this Form by post [ ... ] or to the Organizing Committee with a
copy to Interpol General Secretariat Drugs Sub-Directorate - Fax
33/4.72.44.72.57 - e-mail: D2SD3@Interpol .Int
 
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SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: INTERPOL DRUG TALKS FURORE
3 February, 1999 by William Barnes 

Interpol will hold its annual drug conference in Rangoon this month, to the
fury of pro-democracy groups who point out that wanted drug lords are free to
wander the capital.

Denmark is boycotting the meeting because it will send the wrong signal to
generals with a dire human rights record, according to the country's Justice
Minister, Frank Jensen.

Danish experts estimate that Burma produces about 2,560 tonnes of opium
annually -- a figure unequalled by any other country.

The president of the Open Society Institute, a democracy lobby group, demanded
in a letter to the US Attorney-General, Janet Reno, that the United States
boycott the conference unless the venue was changed.  [BurmaNet Editor's Note:
For full text of the letter, see The BurmaNet News: January 28, 1999, Issue
#1195.]

Aryeh Neier marveled that this particularly inappropriate site should be
chosen
given Washington's concern over the regime's role as a producer and
exporter of
narcotics.

The Open Society president likened it to holding a conference on women's
rights
in Kabul, a terrorism meeting in Tripoli or a weapons of mass destruction
convention in Baghdad.

The junta does not bother to disguise the fact that self-confessed traffickers
travel freely - as long as they steer clear of politics and promise to stop
trafficking sometime in the future.

Laundered drug profits prop up Burma's battered economy and only modest
seizures are made given the country's massive narcotics output. 

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ANALYTICA BIRMANIE: THE INTERPOL-NARCOTICS TANGO IN RANGOON
31 January, 1999 by Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe 

Talking Points                                   Analytica Birmanie 99

THE INTERPOL-NARCOTICS TANGO IN RANGOON: WHAT'S UP? 

Below, are the statements and positions of governments regarding the Rangoon
junta and the narcotics trade.

The Interpol decision to hold its annual narcotics conference in Rangoon
is, in
the light of Rangoon's links with narcotics entrepreneurs and profit from drug
trafficking, completely incomprehensible.

On the other hand, there might be some logic in the baffling Interpol- Rangoon
tango because, according to a source familiar with the Interpol, the Interpol
is one institution where proven duds in police uniform are sent. Although this
is rather an unkind remark, the Interpol-Rangoon tango seems to bear this out,
unfortunately.

Taking its cue from the Interpol, the Rangoon junta has put out a slew of
reports claiming that it has seized a substantial amount of opium, heroin, and
pills. Obviously, [it is] a transparent ploy by the junta to legitimize the
Interpol-Rangoon tango, ...and a curious interpretation of "transparency", if
there was one.

ANALYTICA BIRMANIE 99 
January 31, 1999.   
==========
[1]
Albright Attacks Burmese Drug  Trade By Laura Myers, Associated Press Writer
                        
Monday, July 28, 1997; 6:12 a.m. EDT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged
Southeast Asian nations today to attack the region's pervasive narcotics trade
by refusing to deal with drug-tainted Burmese businesses.

"Narcotics production has grown in Burma year after year, defying every
international effort to solve the problem," Albright said in a statement at a
post-ministerial conference of nations with a stake in Asia.

"As a result, drug traffickers who once spent their days leading mule trains
down jungle tracks are now leading lights in Burma's new market economy and
leading figures in its new political order."

Albright charged that Burma's drug traffickers, with government encouragement,
are laundering profits through Burmese banks and companies, including some
that
are joint ventures with foreign firms.

"Drug money has become so pervasive in Burma that it taints legitimate
investment and threatens the region as a whole," Albright argued. "This is a
challenge we must face together.
______________________________
[2]
South China Morning Post
BARRY PORTER in Singapore and Agence France-Presse

Tuesday  September 2  1997
Burma: Cook condemns opium-funded regime


British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook yesterday condemned the Burmese
Government
for "conniving" with drug barons and said it would be barred from a
forthcoming
meeting of European and Asian nations.

Mr Cook said a recent decision taken by the European Union to deny senior
Burmese officials visas made Burma's inclusion at the Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM) in London "impossible", even if they were wanted.

The ASEM forum is intended as an international platform for 15 EU members to
meet and hold dialogues with Japan, China, South Korea and the members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

As a new recruit to Asean in July, military-run Burma may have expected to get
an automatic invitation on to this world platform. However, as host of the
meeting, Mr Cook yesterday firmly said no.

He insisted that ASEM had never been intended as an EU-Asean forum, rather a
meeting between EU members and a select number of leading Asian countries,
which had happened to include the seven core members of Asean.

New members would be invited to join ASEM only by consensus, and there
certainly was not a consensus in Europe that Burma should come, he said.

Speaking in Singapore on the last leg of his six-day Southeast Asian tour, Mr
Cook said: "Burma is the largest single world producer of opium, and it has
achieved that infamous position precisely because it has a Government that
does
not act against the drug barons.

"It is not only a deeply repressive regime, but it is also a deeply
irresponsible regime in that it is one of the few governments in the world
whose members are prepared to profit out of the drugs trade rather than to
seek
to suppress the drugs trade."

Rangoon hit back last night, calling Britain "the world's number one culprit"
for the spread of narcotics.

"Whether Mr Cook is ignorant of the fact or deliberately trying to cover up
the
most irresponsible and unforgivable criminal act Britain committed by
forcefully introducing opium into Asia [150 years ago] is anybody's guess," a
senior official said.

He said Britain was seeking to "victimise" Burma as it did in colonial times.

"Britain should be taking the lead in assisting victim countries to clean up
the mess she . . . created instead of pointing fingers at Myanmar [Burma] to
cover up her own fault," the official said.

Mr Cook said a number of other Asian countries had also expressed a desire to
join in ASEM, including India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand. From
Britain's perspective, Mr Cook said he had no objections to India being
present.

Mr Cook's tour of the region, his first as Foreign Secretary under the new
Labour Government, has heavily emphasised anti-drugs and pro-human rights
themes.

He began his tour last week by announcing a new role for the British
intelligence services, putting them at the forefront of the war against drug
barons.

Instead of just catching traffickers as they entered Britain, in future MI6
and
MI5 would concentrate on trying to stifle the production of drugs at
source, Mr
Cook said.
________________________________________
[3]
INTERVIEW-US raps "impunity" of Myanmar drug lords
07:53 a.m. Nov 19, 1998 Eastern
By David Brunnstrom

BANGKOK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. narcotics official on Thursday
criticised the climate of impunity which he said allowed big narcotics
traffickers to live free in military-ruled Myanmar.

"We can't allow people to have impunity anywhere," Jonathan Winer,
Washington's
deputy assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law
enforcement, told Reuters.

"One of the problems with Burma is there has been a lot of impunity in Burma."

Winer said he could not understand why big drug lords like Khun Sa, who has
been indicted for heroin trafficking in the United States, and Lo Hsing-han
were living free in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

"What are they doing, wandering around, being left alone after moving all the
dope that they've moved?" he said.

"If we can get the people who are growing dope and moving it out of Burma;
information on their front companies and financial interests; seize their
assets and indict them in the States or some other country; imprison some of
their network and shut that network down, it would be good for us, our
communities and the region."

The Myanmar part of Southeast Asia's "Golden Triangle"" opium growing
region is
reckoned to be the world's largest source of heroin, output of which is
controlled by ethnic Chinese drug lords.

Both Khun Sa, long considered the king of the Golden Triangle drug lords, and
Lo Hsing-han are widely believed to be living in the Myanmar capital Yangon
under the protection of the military government.

Asked whether he thought elements of the Myanmar government were involved in
the drug trade, Winer replied:

"Certainly there is a lot of reason to believe that drug corruption has been a
recurrent problem in Burma."

Winer was attending a conference on a U.S.-Thai initiative to set up an
academy
for regional law enforcement officials aimed principally at encouraging
international cooperation in combating the drug trade.

He said Myanmar was not part of the conference as U.S. sanctions prohibited
assistance to the government there and also because past programmes had not
proved successful.

"In the case of Burma, you've got a situation that any number of people have
tried to work with the Burmese against drugs with very little success,"' he
said. "We have not found them to be reliable partners."

The United States is also barred from assisting law enforcement efforts in
Cambodia, a country identified by narcotics agents as a transit point for
heroin from Myanmar.

Winer said even if this was not the case, he did not think using U.S. money
for
law enforcement training in Cambodia would be an effective use of resources.

"Isn't the money better spent training countries that are in better shape and
have more stability?" he said.

"When you have a government that has the political will to work with other
governments, everything is possible.

"When you have governments that aren't capable of working with other
governments nothing is possible. For us right now with Burma and Cambodia
nothing is possible."
___________________________
[Editor: The above reports are compiled and supplied by CASANIER/France]
 
****************************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA MUST END ITS DRUG DEALS 
1 February, 1999 

EDITORIAL

BURMA IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCERS OF ILLICIT NARCOTICS IN THE
WORLD.
RANGOON AUTHORITIES MUST BE INVITED TO TAKE PART IN INTERNATIONAL ATTEMPTS TO
FIGHT TRAFFICKING. BUT DIPLOMATIC NICETIES HAVE FAILED TO CONVINCE THE BURMESE
LEADERS THAT THEIR TROUBLES BEGIN AT HOME.

Nations of three continents have begun an important meeting in Tokyo which
could revitalise the anti-drugs fight. For the first time, Asian nations are
taking the lead in directing drugs suppression work in their own back yard. In
addition, police from important drug-producing and consuming nations in Asia,
Europe and America are discussing subtle changes in emphasis, most notably
working to prevent drug demand in their own countries.

The police meeting in Japan is the latest in a continuing series of efforts to
meet the dangers of international drug peddlers. Generally speaking, nations
are firmly committed to the ideal of cutting off the traffickers. But one
crucial subject is routinely bypassed by the diplomats and international
experts. In some nations, the government does business with the drug
traffickers.

It is unfortunate for all of us, and particularly for Burmese and Thais, that
the Rangoon leadership has formed a series of partnerships with major drug
dealers. Three of the world's top drug dealers live under the direct
protection
of the Burmese junta. In addition, the regime has failed to slow drug
production even by rebel forces. It gained direct control of huge areas of the
north after the defection of Khun Sa, but neither the opium nor heroin output
has been set back.

But the major Burma flaunting of the international battle against narcotics
trafficking is its cooperation with three major drug dealers: Khun Sa, Lo
Hsing-han and Surachai "Bang Ron" Ngernthongu.

Khun Sa lives in a lakeside villa and rubs shoulders with his neighbours,
members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, formerly Slorc.
Since his sensational defection three years ago, the regime has refused to try
or extradite Khun Sa.

LO Hsing-han, has been the Opium Warlord since a TV documentary of that
name in
the 1960s. Today, he is the premier heroin exporter in Burma, and thus in the
world. From his luxurious home Rangoon, the favoured Lo controls a network of
some of the world's most organised and dangerous drug traffickers. He also
controls virtually all of the important opium refineries in the eastern Shan
state near the Chinese border. His partners include well-known ethnic Chinese
drug lords Lin Ming Xian and Peng Jia Sheng.

Surachai, known as Bang Ron, has found a secure home in Burma since fleeing
across the border a few steps ahead of Thai authorities. He is the king of
amphetamines in Southeast Asia. He is arguably the single greatest threat to
the security of Thailand today. Not only is he the biggest drug dealer to Thai
youth, he is closely tied to armed Burmese rebels on and near the Thai
frontier.

Bang Ron's case shows the problems of corruption in fighting the rich and
violent drug traffickers. His minions inside the Thai police helped him to
escape to Burma. Although no country at the Tokyo meeting is without its
problems of police and official corruption, Burma remains the only reliable
friend of world-class drug lords.

If international drug trafficking is to be combated, sweet deals between
narcotics peddlers and government must end. Most nations recognise that
corruption of their anti-drug forces is the second most dangerous threat to
attempts to halt narcotics trafficking.

But only one country in our region is known to keep close ties with the top
narcotics dealers. So long as Burma continues to encourage and protect the top
international drugs traffickers, there is no hope that Thailand or any
neighbour can halt the growing problem. The time has come to talk straight to
Burma, and to publicize its close links with narcotics dealers.

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DAILY YOMIURI (JAPAN): 6 NATIONS SAY NO TO DRUGS AT SEMINAR 
2 February, 1999 

Officials in charge of drug control from six Asian countries attended a
conference in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss ways of preventing drug smuggling in
Asia.

The seminar, sponsored by the Foreign Ministry and the National Police Agency,
was attended by members of the U.N. International Drug Control Program and
law-enforcement officials from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and
Vietnam, all neighbors of the so-called Golden Triangle--an infamous illicit
drug-manufacturing area.

The attendees discussed methods of drug control in their countries. Also, the
UNDCP unveiled its strategy on preventing drug smuggling near the borders of
the six countries.

A government official speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Prime Minister
Keizo
Obuchi said at the outset of the meeting that drug problems must be seriously
addressed as the problems affect "human well-being."

At the end of the meeting, the participants adopted a statement calling for
redoubled efforts in fighting drug problems.

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SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION: STATEMENT ON INTERPOL MEETING 
29 January, 1999 

No. 1/199

We are flabbergasted and dismayed, as are decent people everywhere, by the
irresponsible behaviour of the Interpol in holding its annual narcotics
conference in Rangoon, the seat of an illegitimate regime which has colluded
with drug kingpins and are their partners in laundering profit from the
narcotics trade. It is incredible that the Interpol is unaware of the Rangoon
regime's well-documented drug connections and involvement in laundering drug
money. No doubt Interpol is aware of the documented facts of the matter. Its
convening of a narcotics conference in Rangoon must as such be judged as
propelled by an agenda that is totally unrelated to narcotics suppression or
any concern with the evils of narcotics. It is a transparently political ploy,
and a very cynical one at that, aimed at white-washing the narco regime in
Rangoon. Interpol's decision to hold a narcotics conference in Rangoon is not
only disgraceful, but simply obscene. It is an act of moral rape against
humanity.

We therefore welcome the decision of the government of Denmark not to attend
the conference in the narco capital of Southeast Asia, Rangoon. We hope that
more governments will follow Denmark's example.

We call upon the United Nations to censure the Interpol, and appeal to the
United States and other governments who have spend billions of taxpayers hard
earned money to stem the outflow of drugs from Burma, to boycott the
ridiculous
conference.

We also hope -- hope against hope -- that senior Interpol officials will
regain
their common sense and cancel the conference, and moreover hope that they will
look into who is responsible for choosing Rangoon, the narco capital of the
region, as the site for such and important conference, and the reason why.

SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION/SDU 
Shan States 
January 29, 1999. 
(Kham Zam, General Secretary)

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