Myanmar military cashing in on drugs trade September 30, 2010 - thepeninsulaqatar.com
Myanmar’s armed forces are cashing in on the thriving illicit drug trade rather than trying to suppress it, striking deals with some ethnic militias growing opium near the border, according to a report yesterday.
The report from Shan Drugs Watch, a project led by the Thai-based Shan Herald Agency for News, follows a study by the United Nations in December which showed an increase in opium growing in northern Shan State.
That area produces 95 percent of the poppy grown in Myanmar, the world’s second-largest opium producer after Afghanistan.
Myanmar’s military government has used the drug trade as a reason to attack rebel groups that have enjoyed decades of de facto self-rule and are resisting demands by the junta to disarm and take part in a general election next month.
Analysts say an increase in opium cultivation by ethnic Chinese rebels, like the United Wa State Army, was to generate cash for weapons in anticipation of a conflict with the government over their refusal to join the political process. But yesterday’s report casts doubts on the government’s commitment to stamping out a lucrative trade it had vowed to eradicate by 2004. The militias are setting up new drug refineries along the Thai-Burma border, said the report’s author, Khuensai Jaiyen.
“They are being rewarded for their political allegiance to the regime,” he said in the report.
The group said opium — a thick paste from poppy used to make heroin — was being grown in 46 of Shan State’s 55 townships, many of which are under the military’s control. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said last year the amount of land dedicated to growing opium in Myanmar had increased by 50 percent since 2006 to 31,700 hectares (78,330 acres).
Myanmar borders China, Thailand and Laos, putting it at the centre of the “Golden Triangle”, Southeast Asia’s main opium-producing region.
Shan is Myanmar’s biggest state and home to numerous ethnic rebel groups, most of which have refused to take part in the November 7 election because of distrust of the regime and the limited representation the constitution offers them.
In fact, few groups even recognise Myanmar as their country and despite the recent formation of several ethnic political parties, it is unlikely the polls will get much support locally. Some rebels may try to sabotage the ballot.
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