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The Nation (11-12-99)



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<font size=3D5><b>Thailand, Aust aid Rangoon on drugs<br>
</font></b><font size=3D3>Associated Press<br>
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BURMA=92S unelected military regime is increasingly isolated in the world
community, but international contacts with its counter-narcotics police
are growing to fight the scourge of illicit drugs produced within its
borders.<br>
Senior police from Thailand and Australia, two leading markets for
amphetamines and heroin produced in the jungles of the Golden Triangle
centred on Burma, said on Thursday they were stepping up law enforcement
cooperation with the military state.<br>
Australia is to send its first narcotics liaison officer to Rangoon for a
trial six-month in January while Thailand hopes to set up its third
counter-narcotics telephone hotline to foster intelligence sharing with
Burmese police over their border.<br>
=93The beauty of law enforcement is that we are apolitical and not
constrained by boundaries that other people may be constrained by,=94 said
Mick Keelty, general manager of national operations of the Australian
Federal Police.<br>
This week, counter-narcotics chiefs from 33 countries in the
Asia-Pacific, including Burma, met in Bangkok for an annual gathering
organised by the United Nations International Drugs Control Programme.
For four days they discussed ways to improve law enforcement ties amid
alarm over the huge increase in heroin produced in Afghanistan in the
last opium-growing season, and the flood of methamphetamines pouring out
of Burma </font><font size=3D2>to </font><font size=3D3>its Southeast Asian
neighbours. The regime has been shunned from some governmental forums
such as the International Labour Organisation for reportedly using forced
labour and is under economic sanctions by many countries for its
suppression of human rights and democracy.<br>
But where police congregate, Burmese officials win rare praise
</font><font size=3D1> </font><font size=3D3>even if their governments accus=
e
the Burmese government of failing to crack down on known drug lords and
indirectly profiting from the drug trade because of the otherwise rare
hard currency it brings in. Assistance from Australia
-</font><font size=3D1> </font><font size=3D3>which in February
controversially attended a heroin conference in Rangoon, boycotted by the
United States and European nations </font><font size=3D1>-
</font><font size=3D3>would include training for Burmese officers and
supply of narcotic testing kits, Keelty said.<br>
The regime has responded bluntly to offers of the resumption of
large-scale aid in return for starting a dialogue with opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi with a refusal to be pushed into political=20
reforms.<br>
But it continues to appeal for more help to wean hilltribe farmers off
opium poppy cultivation. Burma is the world=92s second largest producer,
growing enough last year </font><font size=3D2>to </font><font size=3D3>make
120 tonnes of heroin. It says it wants </font><font size=3D2>to
</font><font size=3D3>eliminate drug production by 2014.<br>
=93If we get international assistance we will be more successful in
suppression of drug production,=94 said Brig Gen Hla Tun, deputy director
general of the Burmese police.<br>
Foreign donors remain leery of funding opium reduction projects in
Burma.<br>
A US$15 million UN project in territory controlled by the ethnic Wa army
responsible for much of the drug production has only drawn $8 million,
donated by the United States and Japan.<br>
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<b>Junta denies student gunmen are in Burma</b> <br>
Agence France-Presse<br>
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BURMA=92S military rulers denied yesterday that five gunmen who seized its
embassy in Bangkok were on its soil and called for Thai authorities to
arrest the pro-democracy dissidents.<br>
In recent weeks local newspapers have published photographs and
interviews with the five =93Vigorous Burmese Students Warriors=94 (VBSW),
stating that they are hiding in the jungles of eastern Burma with a
splinter group of Karen rebels called =93God=92s Army=94.<br>
Soon after their escape, <i>Agence FrancePresse </i>received information
from senior VBSW sources that the five gunmen were on the run inside
Burma.<br>
Despite reliable reports to the contrary, the junta insists the gunmen
are still inside Thailand. =93Since they are not inside Burmese territory;
they are out of our jurisdiction,=94 said a junta statement.<br>
=93We hope and expect that the competent Thai authorities will take
necessary legal action against those who had committed international
terrorism,=94 it said.<br>
Thailand has promised to try the gunmen if they are found in the
country<br>
The five pro-democracy dissidents held 38 people hostage at the Burmese
Embassy for more than 24 hours before exchanging them for a helicopter
and fleeing to the Thai-Burma border.<br>
Rangoon was infuriated by Thailand=92s handling of the hostage crisis,
which sent bilateral relations into a free-fall from which they are only
now begining to recover.<br>
Meanwhile, the armed group said they supported opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, denying reports they were against her.<br>
=93We support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi=92s non-violent way to democracy, and her
leading role in the Burmese democracy movement,=94 the statement received
in Bangkok.<br>
=93We regard anyone fighting for democracy as our ally, and we will always
support people fighting for democracy; including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,=94
it said.<br>
Earlier reports quoted the leader of the VBSW as saying the armed group
was frustrated with the Burmese opposition leader and Nobel peace prize
winner and would fight her if she ever came to power.<br>
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