U.S., EUROPE BOYCOTT DRUG MEETING

YANGON, Myanmar - The United States and European countries were
rebuked Tuesday for passing up an international heroin conference
because it was in Myanmar, one of the world's biggest producers of
the drug.

Participants at the 4th International Heroin Conference said the
boycott by the world's biggest heroin consuming nations ran counter
to the spirit of international cooperation against drug
trafficking.

"As two of the largest markets for heroin in the world, the United
States and Britain bear a special responsibility to work with the
rest of the international community in every way possible," Home
Affairs Minister Col. Tin Hlaing said in his opening address.

The four-day conference was organized by Interpol, the Lyon,
France-based agency that bolsters links among national police forces.

Other countries boycotting the conference include France, Denmark, the
Netherlands and Norway. Representatives of 26 other countries,
including Australia and Switzerland, were listed as attending.

Washington and other critics say the military regime in Myanmar, also
known as Burma, has failed to seriously crack down on drugs and has
such a poor human rights record that it does not deserve the
legitimacy conferred by the conference.

"The United States believes that the Burmese regime could use the
conference to create the false impression of international approval,
both by Interpol and by participating countries, for its
counternarcotics and anti-crime performance," U.S. State Department
spokesman James Foley said Tuesday in Washington.

"Burma's counternarcotics efforts, while improving, are far from what
is necessary. And Burma, of course, persists in its disregard for
political and human rights."

The 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."

Myanmar officials are especially sensitive to criticism on the drug
issue because they feel they have made great achievements in the
fight against drugs especially measured by the number of seizures
with almost no outside aid.

Most foreign aid to the country was cut off a decade ago following the
bloody suppression of protests against military rule.