U.S. DRUG CZAR HAILS PLANNED PANAMA PACT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) President Clinton's drug czar hailedan agreement in
principle to create a multilateral antidrug center that would let U.S.
troops stay in Panama after giving up control of the canal in two years.

The planned creation of the multinational counternarcotics center in Panama
is "an impressive step to substantially increase cooperation and
coordinated action against drug trafficking in the hemisphere," retired
Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Thursday in a statement read by an aide.

McCaffrey, a former commander of the U.S. Southern Command, which moved its
headquarters from Panama to Miami in September, said the center reflected
"growing optimism that true hemispheric cooperation can be accomplished" to
fight the drug scourge.

Negotiators were to meet next week to work out final details of the center,
the State Department said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Panama's President Ernesto Perez Balladares announced tentative
agreement on the center, to be based at Howard Air Force Base in Panama.

Under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaties signed in 1977, the United
States is to hand over full control of the interoceanic waterway to the
Panamanian government by Dec. 31, 1999. The treaties were signed by
thenU.S. President Jimmy Carter and Panama's leader, the late Omar Torrijos.

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