Pubdate: Mon, 01 Mar 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. Author: Rajan Moses ANALYSIS-MYANMAR WINS SOME CREDIBILITY ON DRUGS YANGON, - Opium producer Myanmar, accused of laxity in curbing poppy growing and being a money launderer and harbourer of infamous druglords, is regaining some credibility in its lonely war on narcotics, experts say. Last week, Myanmar's campaign received a boost when Interpol pressed ahead with a meeting on heroin in Yangon despite refusals by the United States and most European nations to attend because of the controversial venue. Interpol's Director of the Criminal Intelligence Directorate Paul Higdon publicly commended Myanmar's plan to wipe out drugs by the year 2014. Myanmar needed more world assistance to achieve this objective, he said. Colonel Kyaw Thein, member of the central committee for the control of drug abuse, says Myanmar is struggling with the drug menace because it sorely lacks money and equipment. "We are ready to do it with whatever resources we have on our own. But it will help speed up...if we get more international assistance," he told reporters last week. Currently, Myanmar gets little or no world aid to fight drug warlords operating mainly in the northeastern Shan state which forms part of the poppy growing Golden Triangle area where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet. Intensive crop surveys, with some U.S. involvement, are under way to establish the true extent of the poppy cultivation to move away from guesstimates of the past, Kyaw Thein says. Myanmar predicts this year's opium crop will fall by half from an estimated 680 tonnes produced in 1998 because of crop eradications and bad weather. Experts say this forecast is too optimistic but agree less will be produced. Most of Myanmar's heroin goes to Australia and Canada. Official data shows Myanmar had 151,000 acres (60,400 hectares) under opium last year and Kyaw Thein claims 40,000 acres of poppy have already been eradicated while another 6,000 will be cut this year. But the United Nations puts opium output at 1,700 tonnes in 1998. Experts at the Interpol heroin conference said they were encouraged by Myanmar's determination to combat drugs. But some said the government's plan would take many years to bear fruit. "They have a good programme. But it will take a lot of time to start to be truly effective...maybe five to 10 years," said one Interpol expert. The United States, in a significant declaration on Myanmar drugs, said last week the country was the world's largest source of illicit opium and heroin but noted there was no evidence its military government as an institution was involved with drugs. The U.S. State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement said Myanmar's opium production fell by 26 percent last year, due partly to government efforts to eradicate the poppy crop. But it said there were persistent and reliable reports that Myanmar officials, particularly corrupt army personnel in outlying areas, were either involved or paid to allow the drug business to be conducted by others. Kyaw Thein said his government was aware of this corruption. Some of those involved were as highly ranked as colonel and action was being taken against culprits. Myanmar's other problem is that its more than 6,000 km (3,750 miles) of borders with Thailand on the east, China in the north and northeast and India on the west, are so porous. "It's so difficult to control movements of traffickers," said another expert from the Interpol conference. Experts and officials also say that the government, having arranged ceasefires with poppy-growing, anti-government insurgent groups, now has the dilemma of what to offer them in terms of crop substitution or commercial opportunities. If cash-strapped Myanmar was unable to help them in substitution, they could return to the illicit trade. A sticking point in Myanmar international relations on drugs is the fact that it harbours two or more wanted drug traffickers -- Khun Sa who lives in Yangon under government supervision and known trafficker Lo Hsing-han who is doing business in Myanmar. Kyaw Thein says his government believes it is better if these druglords are kept out of the business, to reduce the outflow of opium and heroin, than to charge them. He also denies drug money laundering charges levelled at Myanmar and says accusers should help find proof. "There is a lot of talk outside...it's only talk. We have no evidence." Interpol replied on Monday to criticism about the venue for the meeting, saying that "Interpol's main responsibility is to prevent drug production and trafficking". "How can the organisation be expected to have the slightest hope of achieving this if it refuses contact with one of the world's main producer countries?" chief spokesman Serge Sabourin said in a statement from Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea