CANADA, US BOYCOTT INTERPOL CONFERENCE

OTTAWA, - Canada, the United States and 10 other
countries are boycotting an Interpol conference on drug trafficking
being held in Myanmar, formerly Burma, amid concerns about the choice
Rangoon as the venue.

The conference in the Myanmar capital was set to begin today despite
allegations that the country's military rulers are cooperating with
the region's drug lords.

The Foreign Affairs Department said today Canada decided to boycott
the conference because attending ``might suggest a change in our
policy toward Myanmar.''

Department spokesman Sean Rowan told United Press International Canada
also has concerns that the Myanmar government lacked the willingness
or capacity to cooperate with efforts to curb drug trafficking in the
region.

Among the 10 other countries boycotting the conference are France,
Britain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Belgium and Luxembourg.

Rowan says the decision to boycott the conference came in
consultations his department held with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

RCMP Inspector Terry Towns told UPI almost all the heroin entering
North America comes from the so-called ``Golden Triangle,'' which
includes parts of Burma, Laos and Thailand.

Towns is part of the RCMP team, based in Vancouver, British Columbia,
that investigates drug trafficking in Canada.

The Canadian Friends of Burma, a group that works with Burmese
political exiles, says it has been warning for years that the military
rulers in Rangoon are cooperating closely with the drug lords in the
country.

Corinne Baumgarten, a spokesperson for the group says those
allegations are backed by investigative interviews carried out by the
Southeast Asian Infomation Network, a non-goverment organization based
in Thailand.

She says the Canadian Friends of Burma sent a letter to the Forein
Affairs Department suggesting that Canada should boycott the
conference, as the junta would use it to give legitimacy to their government.

Baumgarten says Burma's military rulers are ``part of the problem.
They cannot be part of the solyution.''

She says much of the heroin making its way to Western countries has
been recognised as type ``No. 4'' which originates in Burma.