U.N. Agency Contradicts U.S. on Burmese Drug Trafficking

By Benny Avni 
October 11, 2007
New York Sun 
Original Source: http://www.nysun.com/article/64378 http://www.nysun.com/article/64378

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations' anti-narcotics agency yesterday expressed alarm at the growth in Burma's opium production, though it all but absolved the country's military regime of any culpability for the increase, contradicting American assertions that the junta is guilty of trafficking drugs.

The dispute over opiates and other drugs produced by a country that once topped the world's exporters of heroin has become more than a mere exercise in international narcotics control. As the U. N. Security Council debated yesterday the extent of the regional and international threat posed by the Burmese junta, American diplomats and their allies cited the jump in drug exports as proof that the situation in the country presents dangers that extend beyond its borders.

While American officials put the blame for Burma's burgeoning drug industry squarely on the shoulders of the Burmese authorities, the executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said most of the production is taking place in provinces where the government has little or no control and that it is the result of the poverty of local farmers and the presence of criminal elements.

Supporters of Burma's pro-democracy movement have accused the UNODC of relying on the junta to conduct its anti-drug activities in the country and have questioned its numbers. Mr. Costa said yesterday that his office deals exclusively with drug-related issues and does not take into account the political situation in a country.

There is no direct link between the current turmoil in Burma and its opium crop, which was planted a year ago, Mr. Costa told The New York Sun yesterday. The opium is cultivated in the eastern part of the country, the part that the government has least control, he said. He attributed the increase in production to corruption, benign neglect, and some sort of negligence, and he said local warlords who are fighting the government control the trade in the Shan and Wa regions, where the opium is grown.

An American survey of international drug trafficking last year determined that production of opium in Burma had decreased. Some observers cited a 2006 drought for the drop. The American survey noted, however, a sharp increase in the production of amphetamines in Burma. Washington also accused the central government of failing to curtail narcotics production.

The government failed dramatically to take any constant action to eradicate drug trafficking and production, a spokeswoman for the State Department's narcotic enforcement agency, Susan Pittman, told the Sun yesterday. There is absolute corruption in the government in Burma, which has conducted a limited amount of anti-narcotic activities since 1988.

Noting Burma's alarming upsurge in opium cultivation, yesterday's UNODC report said opium cultivation rose by 29% in 2007, to 68,500 acres. Higher crop yields led to a 46% increase in production. Burma is the world's second-largest opium exporter, behind the current world leader, Afghanistan. Burmese opium fetches much higher prices than Afghanistan's, but overall Burma's opium trade is $450 million a year, compared with Afghanistan's $4.1 billion.

Mr. Costa defended the UNODC's methods, calling them unique among drug agencies. He said the agency relies on satellite imaging and farming surveys, as well as verification by U.N. employees. In Burma's case, he told the Sun, the UNODC's surveyors are from Myanmar, but are on our payroll.

Clearly, people who work for international institutions have a lot of pressure from the regime in Burma, the director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, Jeremy Woodrum, said. He cited an incident last week in which the government detained a Rangoon-based U.N. Development Program employee during a wave of arrests of pro-democracy demonstrators. Mr. Woodrum also challenged the assertion that the government has no control over the eastern provinces. They control these areas, he said of the regime. When the drug control agents come, they will take them to areas where there are no crops.

Reports of the increase in Burma's drug trafficking are one of the reasons why this issue is of such concern for the region and other countries as well, the deputy head of the American mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, told the Sun. He spoke as the Security Council failed to agree on a statement that would address the situation in Burma.

China has contended that the recent turmoil in the country is internal and does not present a threat to international peace and security, a necessary condition for council action. According to several participants in yesterday's discussion, China opposed any rebuke of the junta's attacks on unarmed demonstrators or any statement that would call for the release of all prisoners, including Burma's democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as a condition for any meaningful dialogue between the government and the pro-democracy movement.