Pubdate: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 Source: Bangkok Post (Thailand) Copyright: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2004 Contact: http://www.bangkokpost.co.th/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/39 CROP SUBSTITUTION PROGRAMMES NOT WORKING "The Shan State with not just the crop-substitution programmes, but also with industrial and other projects that will give the farmers a new opportunity to stop the opium growing and have enough money to live," commented a Thai officer assigned to this task. But a change to other crops is not so simple. A Wa dissident warned: "Many farmers have problems finding a market for other crops, and the price may not be enough to survive on. So they return to growing the opium poppies as they have been doing for decades." Then, he disclosed: "Some powerful Wa leaders offer cash to the farmers even before the seeds are planted. This naturally encourages them to grow the opium." All this is going on in the Wa region despite repeated promises by Pau Yu Chang to eliminate opium growing in the Wa area by 2005. "He has only one year left to fulfill his pledge," reminded the Wa dissident. HARD PROMISE TO KEEP Even some of Pau Yu Chang's staunchest supporters _ and there don't seem to be many left _ don't see the pledge as being realistic, but keep going quietly along out of fear. Even his younger brother, Pau Yu Hua, who commands the UWSA's headquarters security force, told some 200 commanders and officials who were assembled for an "emergency meeting" in the northern Wa capital of Pang Sang on July 7, 2003, that the deadline should be moved to 2007, reasoning that it would be impossible to meet the pledge for 2005 "given the current political and economic situation." His suggestion obviously wasn't heeded by the UWSA leader, who almost six months later _ on December 26, 2003 _ admitted to the assembled reporters who came to witness the inauguration of the Thai-funded hospital at Wa-controlled Baan Yong Kha village that some villagers in the Wa area were still cultivating opium, but still firmly reiterated his commitment to eradicate planting by 2005. The ceremony, which was co-presided over by commanders of Thailand's Third Army Region and Burma's Triangle Army Region, gave the UWSA chairman a photo opportunity to be fully exploited. He said to the press: "We regret that the global community is unfair to us. We do not produce drugs but are always accused of doing so." He claimed that the chemicals required to produce methamphetamines were made abroad and that his people didn't have the expertise to control such a trade, and dismissed allegations that his army was involved in flooding Thailand with millions of methamphetamine tablets. He also requested Thailand's cooperation and help in eradicating opium cultivation, and to end the demonisation of the Wa. In the meantime, there are reports that brother Pau Yu Hua himself is addicted to methamphetamines and was taken into custody by the order of a top UWSA official last month on charges of "unacceptable behaviour." "It is not clear what punishment he will face but, if nothing else, he will most probably undergo a drug-rehabilitation treatment," said a source in Pang Sang. However, Pau Yu Hua was reported later to have been removed from his position. Other big opium growing areas are located in parts of the Kachin State. A representative of the biggest Kachin ceasefire group, the Kachin Independence Organisation, which is in control of a part of the state, told Perspective: "Usually, during the harvest time, several hundred soldiers of our military force, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), will go around to search for the opium fields. They are doing their utmost to destroy the plantations located mainly in the mountainous areas. Sometimes we also conduct a joint anti-poppy operation with the Burmese government troops." "We officially ordered our impoverished farmers not to plant the poppies. But we must consider why they have to plant it. The growing areas are very difficult to reach. There are no roads, no development. That's why they have no other alternative but to plant the opium, otherwise they have no chance to survive. And even if they plant other crops, they have no chance for selling. We don't have the funds to help them. If this area is developed then the opium growing will stop for sure," said the Kachin representative. "As in other parts of the Shan State, the opium merchants pay the farmers even before the seeds are planted. There is no heroin refinery in the Kachin State, so the opium must be sent somewhere else. But despite all the difficulties we face in the eradication of the opium in our state, we are determined to do our best to reduce this menace, even though nobody gives us a kyat, because opium destroys us as much as others," he pledged. The US Drug Enforcement Administration in its May 2002 Drug Intelligence Brief on the KIA stated among things that: "Trafficking of opium and heroin in the Kachin State decreased dramatically, as a result of the KIA enforcing a ban on opium cultivation and drug trafficking." Whatever this year's opium harvest will turn out to be, and whatever "official" figures will be published in this respect by various agencies, it is clear that the complete eradication of this crop will take many years or even decades. The only consolation for Burma is that they have slipped from first to second biggest grower of opium in the world, after Afghanistan, which has climbed back to the top spot after the fall of the Taleban regime in 2001. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom