BURMESE OFFICER VISITS TO DISCUSS DRUG EFFORTS

A senior member of Burma's military is meeting with Bush administration
officials from at least five agencies this week, including the State
Department and the White House, to discuss the country's drug eradication
efforts, officials confirmed yesterday.

The visit by Col. Kyaw Thein, largely unpublicized by the administration,
appears to represent the most extensive contacts between a Burmese official
and the U.S. government in years. Former president Bill Clinton in 1996
imposed a ban on visits by officials in a position to formulate policy,
generally those at the rank of general.

While the United States has coordinated its sanctions against Burma with
the European Union, Kyaw is specifically mentioned as ineligible for a visa
to European Union countries, according to the text of the EU ban.

Administration officials said the visit was unrelated to the decision
earlier this month by the military junta to release Burmese democracy
activist Aung San Suu Kyi after 19 months of house arrest.

Officials said the trip had been in the works long before the release of
Suu Kyi, and that the sole purpose of the visit was to discuss ways the
Southeast Asian nation could address its drug problems. In February, Kyaw
participated in a survey of poppy fields with U.S. officials in Burma.

But human rights activists say Burma frequently has used its counterdrug
efforts as leverage to gain greater international recognition and
cooperation. Some said the Kyaw visit, coming on the heels of the political
breakthrough in Rangoon, may send the wrong message to the military regime.

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), a member of the House International Relations
Committee, sent a letter to the State Department criticizing the meetings
as a "profound mistake," giving the impression the United States is already
softening its stance toward the government.

Lantos said that Kyaw is on the list for promotion to general, which "makes
a mockery" of the ban on visits by high-ranking Burmese government
officials. "If the visit doesn't violate the letter of the ban, it violates
the spirit," said Lantos spokesman Matt Gobush.

Administration officials have said Suu Kyi's release would have no effect
on a wide range of economic and other sanctions the United States has
imposed on Burma, and they said yesterday that political discussions were
not planned with Kyaw.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met yesterday with the U.N.
special envoy for Burma, Razali bin Ismail, and afterward the State
Department said it would continue to press for political reforms in Burma.

"We hope it [the release of Suu Kyi] indicates that the Burmese regime is
serious about moving forward with political reform," said State Department
spokeswoman Lynn Cassel. "Significant concrete steps toward national
reconciliation and political reform will spur a positive response," such as
the unconditional release of all prisoners.

Kyaw met Monday with Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers for what an
official called a "frank discussion" on drug issues. He is also to meet
with Mathew P. Daley, the deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and
Pacific affairs.

The State Department said Kyaw will meet with a "wide range of U.S.
government agencies," including the Office of National Drug Control Policy
at the White House, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice and
Treasury departments.

The State Department, in a report in March, said that Burma last year
became the world's largest producer of illicit opium after the former
Taliban regime banned opium production in Afghanistan. Burma is also the
primary source of amphetamine-type stimulants in Asia, producing an
estimated 800 million tablets per year, and the State Department says
Burmese officials have done little to address the problem.

"Burma has taken some useful counternarcotics measures in 2001, but they
are too limited in duration and scope to have had a significant impact on
the overall narcotics situation thus far," the report said.