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New York-based Human Rights Watch likened holding the meeting in Yangon to ``holding a convention on weapons of mass destruction in Baghdad, on women's rights in Kabul or on terrorism in Tripoli.''

Too Much

by Simon Billenness - Wall Street Journal - February 24, 1999

It's almost seemed lately as if politicians can get away with any outrage. So it comes as good news that the U.S., Britain, France and others are snubbing an anti-heroin conference in Myanmar, a world leader in the heroin trade. Myanmar Home Affairs Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing, adopting the tone of the day, urged them "to put politics aside, for the sake of the millions of people around the world whose lives are threatened by the drug trade."   Saying no to politicians who'll say anything is a start.

MYANMAR MEETING WON'T SOLVE DRUG PROBLEM 

  From: Co-Editor, Rangoon Post :  SHAN STATE, Myanmar, Feb 22, 1999(Reuters) -

A drugs conference in Myanmar this week will do nothing to stem the flow of Golden Triangle heroin because the government protects the trade, an ex-lieutenant of the country's most notorious drugs lord has said. Heroin production in Myanmar's Shan State had increase since ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) signed peace agreements with drug lords like Khun Sa in 1996, Colonel Yod Suk said in an interview videotaped recently and made available to Reuters on Monday.

"Heroin production has not been reduced yet. It's increasing because in the past Khun Sa used to control the heroin production area, but now these areas are monopolised by the SPDC," he said. "After... Khun Sa surrendered, the Burmese army took control of that area and now the number of refineries has increased."

Yod Suk is a former Khun Sa underling who now heads the Shan State Army in its opposition to the military government in Yangon. Yod Suk claims to have some 12,000 troops under his command and to control about half of Shan State. He accused the Myanmar military of protecting heroin factories since accepting Khun Sa's surrender.

Khun Sa, one of the most notorious of the Golden Triangle drug lords, is thought to be living in Yangon under government protection. The U.S. government believes he remains at least indirectly involved in the drug trade through subordinates. Yod Suk said the more than 20 countries attending Interpol's Fourth International Heroin Conference in Yangon from Tuesday would have been better off joining the United States and many European countries in staying away.

"They should not attend," he said. "The international community should know the SPDC are linked to drugs themselves. "If the international community attends, firstly they will not get a real insight and knowledge of what is really happening inside Burma. (Secondly) the international community may believe the SPDC," he said.

Shan State, the Myanmar side of the "Golden Triangle opium growing area formed with the borders of Laos and Thailand, is one of the world largest sources of heroin. By U.S. estimates Myanmar's 1997 opium crop was 2,365 tonnes, enough for nearly 200 tonnes of heroin. Washington has said it believes Yod Suk himself is still in the drugs trade, but he said he was fighting against it. Like the Yangon government, he has staged public drug burnings to highlight this professed commitment.

The Myanmar government denies links to narcotics production. It has vowed to destroy all opium poppy plantations within 15 years and says the Interpol conference will show the seriousness of its commitment to drug suppression. Yod Suk said that in the past four years heroin trafficking routes from Shan State had increased and more of the drug was being carried by truck rather than by traditional mule trains.

Amphetamine production had also increased, he said. Yod Suk said that if the international community was serious about eradicating heroin production it should deal with all sides, not just the government.

 "Do not rely on them, the SPDC, and do not support them. If you do, your assistance will only reach the level of corrupted senior officials. "The key was to ensure democratic rights," he said. "If we have democratic rights, we would be able to replace the poppies with other crops and then the people would grow opium no more."

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