News (Media Awareness Project) - Myanmar: Opium Crackdown Too Fast - UN |
| Title: | Myanmar: Opium Crackdown Too Fast - UN |
| Published On: | 2002-06-27 |
| Source: | Australian, The (Australia) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-23 03:39:14 |
OPIUM CRACKDOWN TOO FAST: UN
BURMA'S unexpectedly successful program to weed out drug production
threatens to drive opium farmers into increasing poverty, the UN's top
anti-drugs official in Rangoon warned yesterday.
Jean-Luc Lemahiey, the UN's International Drug Control Program
representative, told The Australian that Burma's anti-drugs program was
genuine, contradicting the US State Department's claim that the country had
"failed demonstrably" to co-operate against fighting drugs.
"We're worried they're moving too fast," Mr Lemahiey said, warning that
traditional farmers would return to opium if they could not find other
crops to support them.
He said figures to be released later this year would show record low levels
of opium production.
Mr Lemahiey also called for more humanitarian aid - something the
international community has largely been unwilling to provide because of
human rights concerns.
He said the military junta's efforts had been more successful in fighting
opium plantations than methamphetamine production, which he described as an
industry built on the "greed" of organised crime, rather than one driven by
poor farmers.
He was aware that his comments could be seen as an endorsement of the
despised Rangoon regime, but stressed his remarks were based on "technical"
rather than "political" considerations.
The remarks came as the military regime marked an international day against
drug abuse and illicit trafficking yesterday by driving bulldozers over
hundreds of bottles of cough medicine containing codeine and burning $US1
billion ($1.74 billion) worth of narcotics and marijuana.
The brass band and balloon ceremony also marked the first time foreign
journalists had been invited into the country since the release of
Opposition democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi seven weeks ago.
Journalists could not contact Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, however, as she had
spent the week meeting her political supporters in the central region of
Mandalay - her first political visit to the countryside since before her
first period of house arrest in 1989.
BURMA'S unexpectedly successful program to weed out drug production
threatens to drive opium farmers into increasing poverty, the UN's top
anti-drugs official in Rangoon warned yesterday.
Jean-Luc Lemahiey, the UN's International Drug Control Program
representative, told The Australian that Burma's anti-drugs program was
genuine, contradicting the US State Department's claim that the country had
"failed demonstrably" to co-operate against fighting drugs.
"We're worried they're moving too fast," Mr Lemahiey said, warning that
traditional farmers would return to opium if they could not find other
crops to support them.
He said figures to be released later this year would show record low levels
of opium production.
Mr Lemahiey also called for more humanitarian aid - something the
international community has largely been unwilling to provide because of
human rights concerns.
He said the military junta's efforts had been more successful in fighting
opium plantations than methamphetamine production, which he described as an
industry built on the "greed" of organised crime, rather than one driven by
poor farmers.
He was aware that his comments could be seen as an endorsement of the
despised Rangoon regime, but stressed his remarks were based on "technical"
rather than "political" considerations.
The remarks came as the military regime marked an international day against
drug abuse and illicit trafficking yesterday by driving bulldozers over
hundreds of bottles of cough medicine containing codeine and burning $US1
billion ($1.74 billion) worth of narcotics and marijuana.
The brass band and balloon ceremony also marked the first time foreign
journalists had been invited into the country since the release of
Opposition democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi seven weeks ago.
Journalists could not contact Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, however, as she had
spent the week meeting her political supporters in the central region of
Mandalay - her first political visit to the countryside since before her
first period of house arrest in 1989.
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