Burmese drugs fuel regional strife

"We were allowed to control the opium trade when we were running the show, and that's the UWSA's deal now," says a former aid to Khun Sa, whom the DEA considered to be the top opium warlord in the Golden Triangle until he retired in 1996. "After the UWSA, it will probably be someone else."

Intelligence officials on the border allege the recent fighting is intertwined with the UWSA's desire to control smuggling routes. The group has been working to shore up its presence close to the border for the past two years.

Heroin comes out of Burma by two main routes: through Thailand's Chiang Mai Province or through China's Yunnan Province. The heroin then works its way down to ports and to the rest of the world. The DEA estimates that about 20 percent of all Golden Triangle heroin makes its way to US markets.

The US pledged $1 million to a UN effort to get farmers to grow substitute crops in Wa areas last year, and DEA agents have maintained contact with the junta, hoping policies will change.

But human rights activists allege the SPDC's policies drive farmers away from legitimate crops. In fact, shortly before the diplomats arrived in Panghsang, the UWSA and the Burmese government wrapped up a resettlement program of 150,000 ethnic Wa from the Chinese border area to southern Shan State, near Thailand.

The Lahu National Development Organization, a human rights group that has interviewed the resettled Wa, says the migration was largely forced. They also say 40,000 ethnic Shan were pushed off their land to make way for the Wa settlers.

While the reasons for the resettlement aren't known, most analysts believe the largely Wa UWSA wanted a more compliant civilian population along the key drug routes into Thailand.

"How are substitution programs going to work when opium is being grown by people who have been driven away from legitimate crops by the regime?" asks a Western aid worker on the border.

Burmese officials declined to comment for this story. Last week, government spokesman Hla Min, said in a statement that the country is committed "to eradicating the production of opium and heroin in our country."

The US State Department disagrees, saying in a statement there are "reliable reports that Burmese government and military officials in outlying areas are either directly involved in drug production ... or provide protection to those who are."

Those struggling for a democratic Burma worry that resettlement programs like the one involving the Wa, and the government policy of allowing opium armies to flourish, are undermining the hopes for a stable Burma when and if a democratic transition takes place.

"The Burmese government says it is keeping order," says Khuensai Jaiyen, who runs the Shan Herald News Agency, a news service run by exiles living in Thailand. "In fact, they are creating disorder."

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