The BurmaNet News: November 4, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: November 4, 1999
Issue #1394

HEADLINES:
==========
AP: MYANMAR TROOPS THREATEN TO SHOOT FORCED RETURNEE
REUTERS: EXPELLED MYANMAR WORKERS STUCK IN JUNGLE
BKK POST: INTRUSION CLAIMED
BKK POST: A COSY RELATIONSHIP WHICH SERVES US ILL
BBC/DVB: SENIOR MONK APPEALS TO BURMESE RULING COUNCIL
FDL-AP: MESSAGE BY DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
SHAN: JUNTA BUYS RICE AT KNOCKDOWN PRICES
LA LIBRE BELGIQUE: BURMA - VIOLATIONS
BKK POST: BURMA PULLS OUT OF ASEAN TOURNAMENT
VANCOUVER SUN: CANADIAN POLITICAL HEADACHE
*****************************************************

ASSOCIATED PRESS: MYANMAR TROOPS THREATEN TO SHOOT FORCED RETURNEE MIGRANTS
3 November, 1999 by Chirawut Rungchamratrassamee

AP 3 November 1999. Myanmar troops threatened to shoot a batch of migrants
sent back home by Thai authorities Wednesday at the start of a planned mass
repatriation of illegal workers, Thai officials said.

Thai authorities then brought the 200 Myanmar migrants to another point on
the Moei river border between the two countries that was not being manned by
Yangon's troops and sent them into Myanmar.

The long border was closed by Myanmar, also known as Burma, a month ago in
retaliation for Thailand allowing student militants who stormed the Myanmar
embassy in Bangkok Oct. 1 go free. Relations between the two countries are
at their lowest point in years.

The border closure complicated Thai plans to send back hundreds of thousands
of migrant workers starting this week in an effort to cap the number of
foreign laborers from its poor neighbors -- Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

''Myanmar knows well Thailand starts expelling illegal worker this month. No
matter what, we will send them all back home,'' said Police Col. Preecha
Suwansorn, chief of immigration police in Mae Sot, Tak province, 370
kilometers (230 miles) northwest of Bangkok.

The Thais have been sending home thousands of workers secretly at unguarded
crossings in recent weeks. But in the initial repatriation undertaken openly
Wednesday, the three big passenger boats loaded with about 200 migrants had
to come back across the river to Thailand.

Preecha told reporters that armed Myanmar soldiers had threatened to shoot
anyone who stepped off the craft and on to their river bank, near the
Myanmar border town of Myawaddy, which lies opposite Mae Sot.

In Myanmar, a government spokesman, on customary condition of anonymity,
said that immigration issues ''should be discussed at the regular border
meetings where government officials from both sides meet.''

There are about 1 million foreign workers in Thailand, mostly from Myanmar.
Most stay illegally. Human rights groups say many have fled oppression by
Myanmar's military government.

Two years ago, Thailand allowed employers in 37 provinces to hire migrants
to work in 18 business sectors, including rubber plantations, rice mills,
factories, fisheries and construction.

But in a bid to ease unemployment among Thais during the country's economic
crisis, Bangkok has now set a limit of 87,000, effective from Wednesday, on
the number of foreign workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

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

REUTERS: EXPELLED MYANMAR WORKERS STUCK IN JUNGLE
3 November, 1999 by Sutin Wannabovorn

BANGKOK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Myanmar workers expelled from
Thailand on Wednesday are trapped in the jungle along the two countries'
border because Myanmar troops will not let them go home, Thai officials
said.

Thai immigration, police and soldiers ferried 250 Myanmar workers across the
border to Myawadi from the Thai town of Mae Sot on Wednesday in the first of
what are expected to be dozens of operations to get rid of illegal
labourers, officials said.

But when the workers arrived in Myanmar, they were prevented from crossing
the jungle deeper into Myanmar by government troops who suspected they might
be dissidents.

``Myanmar soldiers reasoned that anti-government groups might be among the
returnees, so prevented them going deeper into the country,'' a Thai
immigration spokesman told Reuters.

The Thai cabinet rejected on Tuesday an appeal from Thai employers and
entrepreneurs to let more than 600,000 illegal Myanmar workers stay in the
country.

REPATRIATION OF WORKERS SOON

``The authorities concerned will begin to round-up the illegal workers and
send them back as soon as possible,'' Thai Labour Minister Wut Sukosol told
reporters on Wednesday.

Thailand, hit hard by its worst economic crisis for the past two years, used
to host about one million Myanmar workers until late last year when it
repatriated about 300,000 of them.

The deadline for a decision on the future of most of the remaining 600,000
illegal workers, on whose behalf employers had appealed, is November 4.

The illegal workers were allowed to remain as cheap labour in jobs rejected
by Thais in 18 sectors, mainly in the farm and fishery industries in 37 of
76 provinces in the country.

Thai authorities began rounding up illegal Myanmar workers on Wednesday and
were expected to keep most of them in holding centres until the main
crossings along 2,400 kilometre (1,450 mile) common border were reopened by
Myanmar.

[ ... ]

The Thai action on the Myanmar workers is bound to have repercussions on its
cottage, agricultural and fisheries industries, especially along the border
where employers are dependent on cheap labour.

[ ... ]

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

THE BANGKOK POST: INTRUSION CLAIMED
2 November, 1999

Burma has lodged a protest with Thailand for the second time against a plane
of unknown origin intruding into its airspace.

The Thai-Burmese border committee yesterday received a complaint from
Rangoon stating its concern over the mysterious
flight.

The first letter lodged on Oct 21 said a light aircraft from Mae Hong Son
entered its airspace for 10 minutes before heading back to Thai territory.

Rangoon has said it would not be responsible if any such planes were shot
down by minority rebels.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: A COSY RELATIONSHIP WHICH SERVES US ILL
3 November, 1999

OPINION & ANALYSIS

The generals in Rangoon were affronted that Thailand did not take the
toughest action against the students who occupied the Burmese embassy, but
at the very same time one of their number was meeting with a man responsible
for appalling damage to Thailand's interests.

The meeting on Oct 1 of Burma's intelligence chief, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, and
Wei Hsueh-kang, the man who reputedly replaced Khun Sa as the Golden
Triangle's most powerful drug warlord, is disturbing indeed for Thailand and
those involved in trying to halt, as well as the victims of, the flood of
millions of methamphetamine pills produced daily by the many laboratories
controlled by Wei's army.

The Burmese strongman, who was reported to be on an inspection tour of Wei's
new military headquarters in Wa state, was seen in a video, obtained by this
paper, pointing at building works and asking questions of his hosts, the
local commanders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) which is controlled by
Wei. The general clearly was at ease in the company of the drug lord and his
commanders.

It is not obvious to see how Rangoon benefits from such contacts, but Lt-Gen
Khin Nyunt's presence surely will give Wei a huge boost in morale and will
only encourage him to churn out more and more methamphetamine pills with to
flood the Thai market and so fund his ambitious development projects in Wa
state.

In response to the media reports of the meeting, Rangoon offered the
explanation that the visit was part of a campaign to encourage Burma's great
many drug barons to change their ways. It also trumpetted that its strategy
of trying to start up legitimate businesses for the redeemed drug lords so
that they could make a decent living to replace their dependence on poppy
cultivation was the only workable solution to the drug problem. This
argument might sound convincing to the generals in Rangoon, but it carries
no weight here in Thailand while we suffer the consequences of the junta's
accommodation of the UWSA's lucrative drug venture.

When crop substitution was introduced in Thailand decades ago to phase out
poppy cultivation, the participating hill-tribesmen were allowed to keep
small plots to grow opium for their own use. And they made a decent income
from the other crops. But things are very different when it comes to Burma
and Wei's UWSA. It is obvious these people are not interested in making a
decent, honest living. They have grand designs which can only be fulfilled
using the spoils of the drug trade.

While Rangoon's abrupt closure of its border with Thailand and the
abrogation of fishing rights granted to Thai fleets following the overnight
occupation of the Burmese Embassy, coincidentally also on Oct 1, was
irrational, even grandstanding, Rangoon's tacit approval of Wei's drug
activities can only add to the regime's foul reputation as a real danger to
the well-being of the global community of nations.

Fighting the methamphetamine menace which stems from Burma should not be the
sole responsibility of Thailand. It is in Burma where these deadly drugs are
produced and then smuggled across the border, and so the Burmese junta
cannot deny responsibility and claim this is none of its business. And if it
wanted to act responsibly, it should join the Thai government forces in
stamping out this evil trade. And China should help too for it is a major
source of the chemicals used by Burmese groups to produce methamphetamines
and other drugs.

Unlike the United States, which has accused the Burmese government openly of
condoning drug trafficking by armed minority groups such as the UWSA and of
providing shelter to drug fugitives, the Thai government must exercise
diplomacy or risk further complicating relations which are already at their
lowest ebb. While the cross-border trade and fishing rights take precedence
in dealings between our two countries, Thailand will always find itself at a
bargaining disadvantage. At best, all we can do is wait and see what Rangoon
does next. This should change. Rangoon should be reminded in no-nonsense
terms that its tacit approval of Wei's drug activities cannot be tolerated
any longer, under any circumstances - bottom line.

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

BBC/DVB: SENIOR MONK APPEALS TO BURMESE RULING COUNCIL, OPPOSITION TO HOLD
PEACE TALKS
4 November, 1999

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 2 Nov 99

Kyakhatwaing Sayadaw [senior abbot] of Pegu - State Ovadachariya Sayadaw
[senior adviser abbot] U Zawtipala, who holds the title of Agga Mahapandita
Abhidaza Agga Maha Thatadhamma Zawtika Sayadaw [religious titles conferred
by the state] - issued an appeal during October calling for holding of talks
aimed at achieving peace. The DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has received
this three-page appeal.

In his appeal, the abbot called on the SPDC [State Peace and Development
Council] military clique and the National League for Democracy [NLD] to hold
talks to find a solution. He called upon the two sides to be tolerant in
holding negotiations and asked the two sides to donate their grievances to
him. He said he is prepared to act as a mediator himself.

He said the international situation is encouraging, but there is no peace in
Burma. He said such a situation is shameful indeed, and that it only brings
losses and suffering to the country. He urged those in power to consider the
prestige of the country and the people and called upon them to have
consideration, compassion, and love towards those who do not hold power. He
said in accordance with the maxim, sacrifice brings gains, he called upon
the government to sacrifice for the country.

Sayadaw U Zawtipala is a member of the Shwekyin Sect [a respected and
conservative Buddhist order of monks] and has not been involved in politics.
The SPDC often presented donations to the Kyakhatwaing Monastery and built
monastic buildings within the monastery compound. The Pegu military
commander recently donated over 150 sacks of rice to the monastery and SPDC
Secretary-1 Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt donated 50 sacks of rice. Sayadaw U Zawtipala
urged the government not to go against the will of the people.

He said the losses the country is suffering presently are not seen by the
players, just as the play is not seen by the performers, but is seen by the
audience. The players are the leaders of the country and the audience is the
people. The sayadaw urged the players not to overlook the audience. The
sayadaw said it is his conviction to encourage those who are capable. He
urged those concerned to work in the interests of the country's peace and
development and said those capable of working for the country's development
should be encouraged and helped by all. He said the help should be given
physically, verbally, and mentally. This, he said, is his conviction. He
urged those who are bent on destruction, like an actor who destroyed the
major drum because he could not get the leading role, to give up such
tendency. He urged the two sides to be flexible in holding talks. He said
according to a maxim, the buyer and seller must communicate at the same
level. He said no transaction will takes place if the seller wants to sell
for 10 kyats and the buyer wants to pay 5 kyat. The sayadaw advised both
sides not to be inflexible in their stand.

He urged both sides to start the peace talks before the year 2000. He
explained that he wrote the appeal in order to achieve peace by the year
2000. He said he is willing to go anywhere to mediate for peace and assured
the talks would have the firm legal basis. He said an honest and trusted
mediator is needed. The sayadaw concluded his appeal for peace with five
points for victory. U Ottara, abbot of Waterloo Monastery, London, hereby
read these five points:

[U Ottara] 1. May the entire Myanmar [Burma] Union be free from trivia
arising from individual grudge and spite, racial prejudice, and the past
preoccupation with each other's prejudices.

2. May the entire Union of Myanmar be free from greed, anger, envy, and
delusion which the Buddha did not like. May the people have love and genuine
goodwill towards each other.

3. May the people of Myanmar be free from natural disasters such as from the
rain and the wind and enjoy prosperity and become a modern industrialized
nation which can stand firmly in the world and promote religion and social
welfare.

4. May the people of Myanmar be able to discard all negative and destructive
endeavours as soon as possible, avoid all vices in order to make full use of
their valuable life as a human being, and lead a virtuous existence and live
in happiness as noble persons.

5. I hereby conclude my appeal for peace with the blessing for all to be
able to study and practice soon the seven virtues of serenity, sharp
awareness, faith, morality, knowledge, wisdom, and sense of shame. May they
attain nirvana which is free from old age, disease, death, and rebirth.

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

FORUM OF DEMOCRATIC LEADERS - ASIA PACIFIC: MESSAGE BY DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
25 October, 1999 from altsean@xxxxxxxxxx

OPENING CEREMONY MESSAGE  by AUNG SAN SUU KYI, LEADER OF THE NLD, BURMA

The efforts to bring democracy to the Asia-Pacific region have helped us a
great deal. We would like to thank all those who have been working with us
over these last 10 years. Already a decade has passed since the people of
Burma made it quite clear to the whole world that they want a democracy and
they were prepared to make many sacrifices for democracy. Yet, it's not
possible for us to do it alone because the world is so interconnected these
days that we cannot stand alone. No man, no nation is an island unto itself.
This is why we would like to appeal to you to keep up the work that you have
been doing. It is effective.

There are those who say that the efforts of democracy-loving groups and
nations all over the world have had no effect in Burma. This is not so. The
very fact that I'm talking to you now, the very fact that a movement for
democracy is alive and vitally alive in spite of the oppression to which we
have been subjected is proof that your work has paid great results. If you
had not been there to support us, it would have been that much more
difficult for us. We would not have given up our efforts to bring democracy
and human rights to Burma. We would have continued but we would have had to
face greater odds, so please believe that your efforts really do help us
great deal. I am absolutely confident that the year 2000 will see many many
changes which will be for the good of those who are on the side of peace and
justice.

We do believe that the world is becoming a better place day by day in spite
of some signs to the contrary. Human beings being human beings, there are
often great setbacks, but progress is always there. We believe in the
essential goodness of humanity, but we think there has to be hard work to
bring out this essential goodness. As Buddhists would say in every one of
us, there is a Buddha nature. But it needs hard work to bring this out. In
the same way, we believe that in every society, there are underlying human
instincts that work for democracy, for human rights, for peace and justice.
Please help us to foster these instincts. And please do not ever believe
that work done for the sake of democracy is wasted in any way. Sometimes the
results are not immediately obvious, but the results will come and when they
are obvious then we shall all be able to celebrate together. I would like to
have been able to get together with you to discuss ideas as to how we can
best speed up the democratisation process in Burma, but although we cannot
be together physically we can be together in mind and spirit. And we can all
work together to speed up the democratization process in Burma.

Every day that is delayed is a day more of suffering for our people and for
our country. I know that we are not the only people who are suffering from
lack of justice and from the lack of basic human rights. But we have to do
what we can and we would like to bring democracy, justice and human rights
to Burma. And when we are a democracy, we would like to help others in our
region and in the world to achieve the same kind of rights for which we are
fighting now. I'm sorry about this incessant background*, but this is an
illustration of the way in which we have to work in Burma. In great
difficulty with many obstacles but in spite of that, we do believe that we
shall overcome and quite soon. Thank you very much.

[Released October 25, 1999, Seoul.]

(The background noise increases towards the end of the video message)

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

SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS: JUNTA BUYS RICE AT KNOCKDOWN PRICES
3 November, 1999

Junta Buys Rice At Knockdown Prices To Shore Up Its Granaries: Shan Villager

Maihoong reports from eastern Shan State that local authorities have been
forcing the farmers to sell their harvest at unbelievably low prices.

According to Maihoong, the villagers of Napakao, Mongton Township, Monghsat
District, were told by the local military authorities on 1 October that they
were obligated to sell part of their new harvest to the government. "Each
farmer has to sell one kwai (half a basket) of unhusked rice for every Kwai
of sowing at 200 kyat, when the local price is 600 kyat".

When the villagers begged for a price raise, the officials rejected, said
Maihoong. " 'We are not asking from you just by ourselves', they told the
farmers. 'We are merely following orders from Rangoon, and every township in
the whole country is doing just the same' "

Nevertheless, the price of paddy appears to vary from one township to
another, said Maihoong, as evidenced by another report he received from
Laikha Township, Loilem District, Southern Shan State.

On 10 October, officers from LIB 515, IB 64 and the township peace and
development committee met the local people and instructed them to sell their
unhulled paddy at 1 lang and 6 kwais (7 baskets) per acre, at 1,200 kyat per
lang. "The market price is 2,500 kyat", said Maihoong. "Even those whose
paddy fields failed were not exempted".

All the local rice mills were forbidden to open shop until the farmers'
allotment had been fulfilled, added Maihoong.

"Those reports are in contrast to what Gen Tin Oo (Secretary-2, State Peace
and Development Council said on 26 October", he concluded.

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

LA LIBRE BELGIQUE: BURMA - VIOLATIONS
28 September, 1999 by Genevieve Delaunoy

"It is necessary to isolate the military junta"

"Our hope is that the international community put pressure on the Burmese
regime so that it will stop its violations against the population", explains
Zipporah Sein, teacher, member of the Karen ethnic group, secretary of the
Karen Women Organisation (KWO), whose family took refuge in Thailand in
1995.

They are 4 and form a delegation which travels over Europe to alert public
opinion and political elites about the innumerable exactions perpetrated by
the Rangoon dictatorship against the various populations in Burma (Myanmar).

"We do not get sufficient attention from the world", adds Hseng Noung
Lintner, a former member of the Shan resistance (from 1977 to 1983) who
emigrated to Bangkok and whose role has been crucial to raising awareness
abroad of the Burmese problems. At present she is a member of the Shan Women
Action Network (SWAN), active in Thailand and along the Thai Burmese border,
whose particular objectives are to promote the rights of women and children
and oppose their exploitation and the use of violence against them.

"If we compare our situation to that of East Timor we have to observe that
Burma has not benefited from any international mobilization and it is being
forgotten. While here too it would be necessary to create an international
penal tribunal to judge the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the
military junta."

A HEAVY LID

Out of a population of 44.5 million, the Burmese ethnic people are a
majority with 68 %. But the country also includes other ethnic populations:
Shan (9%), Karen (7%), Rohingya and Mon (4% each), Chinese (3%), Indian (2%)
and others (5%).

Since independence in 1948 Burma (Myanmar) found itself confronted with
ethnic problems with which it dealt by violent means. In 1949 the Karen
people took up arms, and the Shan people followed later. Their objectives
were to obtain recognition for their identity and a federative structure of
government.

According to the 99 Amnesty International Report, there are 1200 political
prisoners in Burma. Amnesty adds that ethnic minorities continue to be the
victims of violations of their most fundamental rights, in particular of
extrajudicial executions, tortures, ill treatments and forced labour.


"The Karen minority suffers from the abuses of the Rangoon regime", confirms
Mrs Sein, " Expropriations, and forced expulsions without any financial
compensation, arbitrary relocations, tortures, extortion of money, loss or
violation of property. Anyone suspected of supporting the Karen movement is
harassed and often killed. Women have paid a heavy tribute: Forced labour,
repeated rape by Burmese military, some died after being shot in the
vagina..."

ETHNIC CLEANSING IN CAMERA

The number of Burmese refugees is estimated at 160,000 in Thailand, 110,000
in India, and 35 000 in Bangladesh. As far as internally displaced people,
their number is somewhere between 700,000 and 1 million.

"In the Shan States the military power has a policy of deportation and
ethnic cleansing. Since 96, the centre of the Shan State has been emptied:
300,000 persons have been deported from 14,000 villages", quotes Nang Lao
Liang Won, of Shan origin and founder of SWAN.

According to this delegation, the central power encourages ethnic divisions
to prevent all coalition. Additionally ethnic minority regions have been
underdeveloped while the Burmese army has undergone an extraordinary
expansion. Thus, according to the weekly "Far Eastern Economic Review" of
September 2 1999, "Since end 1988, the armed forced have increased their
numbers from 195 000 to 450 000 men". A similar expansion rate applies to
military equipment, information and counter-intelligence.

"TO UNITE OUR VOICES"

The most emblematic figure in Burma is Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace
Prize, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and main opponent
to the dictatorship.

"She is a voice but cannot do anything alone as she is under house arrest in
Rangoon." Says Mrs Won. [sic Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is not officially under
house arrest, but her movements are severely restricted.]  "We must find a
collective voice beyond our ethnic divergences because our common enemy is
the Rangoon regime". Mrs Sein is well aware of the difficulties raised by
this challenge:" There is still mistrust between us. Indeed, who can assure
us that in a federal democratic state, each state will have the same rights
while the levels of development and education are so different today?".

Mrs Lintner concludes :"European and Asian countries as well as The USA must
have a humanitarian approach in their relationship with Burma. We live in a
dreadful state of military oppression. If the international community has a
firm attitude and isolates Rangoon, this will be of great help."

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

THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA PULLS OUT OF ASEAN TOURNAMENT
2 November, 1999 by Suchin Chirakul

UNIVERSITY GAMES

Bangkok - Burma will not take part in the 10th Asean University Games to be
held here December 1-6.

The six-day tournament which will be hosted by Ramkhamhaeng University will
attract 714 athletes from eight nations-Brunei (67), Cambodia (12),
Indonesia (103), Malaysia (161), Philippines (62), Singapore (116), Vietnam
(38) and Thailand (155).

They will compete in six sports. A draw for grouping will be held Thursday
at the Alexander Hotel, Hua Mark.

The 7th National University Games, to be hosted by Sri Nakharinwirot
University, will be held December 4-10.

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

THE VANCOUVER SUN: BURMA'S GOLDEN TRIANGLE - A CANADIAN POLITICAL HEADACHE
3 November, 1999 by Jonathan Manthrope

A new video seems to confirm the ties between Burma's military and key drug
producers

A short video clip which surfaced in Thailand last weekend has the makings
of a headache for Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy in his struggle to develop
a broadly acceptable policy towards the drug baron-friendly military regime
in Burma.

The video was taken Oct. 1 and appears to confirm the close links between
the Burmese junta and the key drug producers and traffickers from the
country's opium poppy growing region, the ''Golden Triangle'' of the
northeast.

The clip shows the most powerful member of the Rangoon junta, intelligence
chief Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt, inspecting the new headquarters of the man
international agencies consider the kingpin of Burma's drug trade, Wei
Hsueh-kang.

Wei is commander of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which began life as a
Beijing-funded communist separatist movement, but which has taken control of
the Golden Triangle's key poppy-cultivating regions. There are warrants for
Wei's arrest both in Thailand and the United States.

The headache for Axworthy is that this seeming confirmation of the close
relationship between the military regime and the drug lords comes as he has
made a modest defiance of the influential anti- junta Burmese lobby in
Canada.

A few weeks ago the lobby reacted hotly to remarks by Axworthy in Bangkok
that he is prepared to ''engage with the Burmese'' government in an effort
to stem the flow of opium-derived heroin which floods into Canada. In recent
years Burmese heroin has killed about 300 Canadians annually.

The Burmese lobby in Canada follows closely the position of detained
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She urges full sanctions against the
Rangoon regime and says nothing short of replacement of the military by the
parliament elected in 1990, but never allowed to meet, will halt the drug
trade.

Axworthy had tended toward this view and two years ago Canada imposed
limited sanctions, the most stringent foreign affairs department lawyers say
are permissible under existing legislation.

But nothing creates a market like sanctions, especially limited ones. In the
past two years Canada's trade with Burma has doubled to $23 million Cdn and
Canadian investment in Burma continues to grow.

While Axworthy has had the Burma lobby bending one ear, there have been
equally urgent appeals from the RCMP and international anti-drug
organizations coming in the other.

This advice is that he should join with other affected countries and engage
with the Rangoon junta.

The Mounties have officers attached to several Canadian diplomatic missions
around Asia, one of whose most important tasks is to collect information and
intelligence on drug trafficking.

But they are often hobbled in their efforts by lack of funds and
restrictions on what they can do inside Burma. For both political and
financial reasons Mounties are sometimes unable to attend coordinating
meetings of regional anti-drug forces and international colleagues such as
from the U.S. and Australia.

Political considerations stopped Mounties attending an Interpol conference
on the drug problem which was held in Rangoon in February.

The Mounties' semi-isolation has its ironic aspects. The United Nations Drug
Control Program recently moved its local office from the Thai capital,
Bangkok, to Rangoon. The regional law enforcement adviser is Richard
Dickens, a former Mountie.

Axworthy's comment a few weeks ago that he is prepared to engage the junta
in order to try to curb the drug trade appeared to be a response to the
unhappiness of Canadian law enforcement agents at the barriers to their
work.

The new video will, however, revive the counter argument that the military
and the drug lords in Burma are as close as teeth and gums, and it's a mug's
game dealing with the junta.

A description of the video of Khin Nyunt and Wei was set out Sunday by the
Bangkok Post.

The video shows Khin Nyunt inspecting a multimillion-dollar headquarters
Wei's UWSA is building in rugged hill country near Mong Yawn, just across
the border from Thailand's city of Chiang Rai.

The complex, whose construction the Thai military has been watching with
concern, includes fortifications, roads, a dam, electricity supplies, fuel
storage and a military school.

Thailand has sent special military units to its northern border because
millions of methamphetamine -- ''speed'' -- pills have been flooding into
their country from Wei's drug laboratories.

So, Bangkok's relations with Rangoon were already tense when exiled Burmese
students took over the junta's embassy in Thailand at the beginning of last
month.

Rangoon was outraged and closed its border after the Thai authorities
described the students as ''freedom fighters'' and negotiated an end to the
hostage-taking.

The release of the video to the newspaper is thus part of a diplomatic
tussle between Bangkok and Rangoon.

And it has not gone unnoticed that the meeting between Khin Nyunt and Wei
took place on the same day as the embassy invasion.

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





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