RCMP TOLD TO JUST SAY NO TO MYANMAR DRUG CONFERENCE

Asian site of Interpol meeting a huge source of world heroin supply

Ottawa -- The federal government has told the RCMP it must boycott an
Interpol heroin conference this week in Myanmar -- formerly Burma -- because
of that country's terrible human rights record and the connections between
the military dictators and drug lords.

The conference is organized by the general secretariat of Interpol, the
international police organization that acts as a clearinghouse for criminal
intelligence. It opens today in Rangoon, the capital, and runs through
Thursday.

At least three other countries, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, are
boycotting the event to protest the repressive policies of Myanmar's
military rulers.

RCMP officers involved with Interpol and narcotics enforcement had planned
to attend. They are staying home on the advice of the Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade, said Dan Brien, the spokesman for
Solicitor-General Lawrence MacAulay.

The turnaround came after former solicitor-general Warren Allmand, the
president of the Montreal-based International Centre for Human Rights and
Democratic Development raised questions with government officials.

The former Liberal MP pointed out to Mr. MacAulay that the Myanmarese
military dictatorship co-operates closely with Asian drug lords.

" [Myanmar,] which has one of the worst human rights records, is recognized
as one of the largest producers of drugs. Since the military . . . took
control, [Myanmar] became one of the most important producers of heroin,"
Mr. Allmand wrote to Mr. MacAulay and Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd
Axworthy earlier this month.

Sending RCMP delegates to such a conference would tend to give the Myanmar
regime legitimacy, Mr. Allmand added. The federal government agreed.

Canada imposed economic sanctions two years ago. It had ended bilateral aid
programs in 1988, the year the military took over, locked up democratic
leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi and changed the country's name from Burma
to the Union of Myanmar.

International Co-operation Minister Diane Marleau landed in political hot
water last year for suggesting that the Canadian International Development
Agency might resume foreign-aid projects in that troubled Asian country.

Mr. Axworthy had to extricate the government from the embarrassment caused
by Ms. Marleau's gaffe. He appears to have headed off another embarrassment
by telling his officials to have a quiet word with the Mounties.