SIX ASIAN NATIONS BEGIN ANTI-DRUG TALKS IN YANGON

Senior officials from six Asian nations Wednesday began mapping out
strategies to improve cooperation in the war against drugs, against the
backdrop of a brewing row between Thailand and Myanmar over the illicit trade.

Representatives from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
are holding preparatory talks before their home ministers meet on Friday to
approve new inititives to close down the narcotics industry.

The Myanmar hosts will then torch mountains of heroin and methamphetamines
on Saturday in a ceremonial burning.

But even as the officials completed a round of bilateral talks and began
evaluating the progress of cross-border drug control projects, fresh salvos
were being fired in a months-long wrangle between Thailand and Myanmar.

The neighbours have been trading accusations over who is responsible for
rampant drug trafficking along the border since February, when rival ethnic
militias in the region sparked a rare clash between the national armies.

Renewed fighting has flared up in recent days as the Thai military attempts
to dislodge the Yangon-allied United Wa State Army -- widely accused of
being deeply involved in the drugs trade -- from a position it took on Thai
soil.

Myanmar's ruling junta Wednesday lashed out at Thailand for helping the
rival Shan State Army (SSA) overrun Myanmar border outposts, saying it was
giving succour to drug dealers.

"Regretfully, all these groups are now being given sanctuary and refuge
inside Thailand ... Thailand is being unbelievably quick and active in
defending these groups as freedom fighters cum drug busters," it said.

Meanwhile, Thailand's minister attending the meeting, Thamarak Issarangkun
Na Ayutthaya, said he would press Myanmar to agree to three-way cooperation
with China on drugs suppression.

"Tripartite cooperation is necessary. If the three countries exchange
information, the problem will be solved easily," he said.

Thamarak said he would be careful to acknowledge Yangon's anti-narcotics
efforts, but "Myanmar must show that they are not involved with
amphetamines so that the drugs problem can be solved successfully."

The six nations attending this week's talks are signatories to a 1993
agreement which bound them to work together in the war on drugs by reducing
demand, boosting law enforcement and encouraging crop substitution.

They meet at a ministerial level every two years to evaluate the progress
of cross-border drug control projects and to approve new initiatives
devised by the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP).

The United States has played an increasingly important role in the regional
fight against trafficking through its support of Thai anti-drugs units and
cooperation with Myanmar in cross-border investigations.

A Bangkok-based representative for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA),
William Snipes, said this week's meetings would boost cooperation in
combatting the drug problem that has spread throughout Southeast Asia.

"There has to be cooperation. These bilateral meetings are important. The
drug problem is a regional problem," he said. "We're not going to be as
effective (by ourselves) as we could be (working together)."

Snipes said that while this week's high-level meetings were a step in the
right direction, cooperation also needed to reach down to street-level
investigations.

"At the DEA, we would like to see regional cooperation on a working level
also. We're trying to organize a working meeting ... for investigators," he
said.

UNDCP officials have said that during this week's meeting they will present
two new anti-narcotics projects -- on cross-border law enforcement
cooperation and drug control advocacy and capacity strengthening in East Asia.

The second project "aims to present a common strategy for raising awareness
about the danger of drugs in the region and (to help) governments produce
public information materials and campaigns," an official said.