INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO HELP BURMA,S WAR ON DRUGS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000255 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, INL/AAE, INL/PC; DEA FOR OF, OFF; USPACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM BM SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO HELP BURMA,S WAR ON DRUGS RANGOON 00000255 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: At a semi-annual Rangoon meeting of the Mini-Dublin Group, the countries tracking narcotics in Burma echoed concerns of the INCSR and UNODC Annual Report. All agreed that Burma is making credible progress in disrupting drug trafficking networks and reducing opium cultivation, but saw increased production of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS) as a rising threat. Australia assists Burma to improve counter-narcotics data collection and border cooperation with India and Bangladesh. Thailand will add a narcotics liaison officer to its Embassy in Rangoon. China conducts its own opium surveys in Burma, using satellites and fieldwork, but has yet to share its data with others. End summary. THE VIEW FROM DOWN UNDER -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Japan hosted a semi-annual meeting of the Mini-Dublin Group in Rangoon on February 28, attended by U.K., U.S., Italian, German, and Thai diplomats and UNODC, WFP, and FAO officials. Australia, which will assume duties as Mini-Dublin Group chair next month, told others that it is funding a new Drugs Crimes Center in Burma. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) liaison in Burma, Richard Moses, told emboff privately that the Australians pushed hard for a center in Rangoon, rather than Nay Pyi Taw, and succeeded when the Minister of Home Affairs intervened personally to approve the location, which will be on the top floor of the current National Drug Eradication Museum. The GOB's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) will use the center's Australian-provided computers to consolidate data on drug seizures and trafficking intelligence; Australia will also train center personnel. With most narcotics information now scattered around the country at regional commands and only in paper format, Moses feels the center will greatly enhance analysis of the narcotics situation. ¶3. (SBU) Rising ATS production in Burma concerns Australia, Moses said. A significant volume of precursor chemicals enter Burma via the Indian border and are stored in Mandalay before being moved to ATS factories in northern Shan State. Moses said that a smaller amount of precursors enter from China, Thailand and Laos. He also reported a worrying increase in heroin production in southern Shan State, with the refined product then shipped into Thailand and China via the Wa and Kokang special districts. UNODC added that new groups are emerging as ATS traffickers, in addition to past drug cartels, with new chemists coming from China to train locals in enhanced refining techniques. ¶4. (SBU) Cooperation with Thailand remains steady, and should improve further now that the Thais have added a narcotics liaison officer position at their Rangoon Embassy. The most neglected area to date is on Burma's western borders, Moses said. Australia plans to set up new AFP liaison offices in 2007 in Dhaka and Delhi, which Moses feels may help push Bangladesh and India toward greater counter-narcotics coordination, and the GOB and GOI have agreed to set up two liaison offices at key border checkpoints, but Moses described the current situation as "lots of meetings and no action." ¶5. (U) China has been working more closely with Burma on drug issues this year, according to Moses. In addition to the UNODC's annual survey, the Chinese now conduct their own opium surveys in Burma, working together with CCDAC in Shan and Kachin State. According to UNODC, the Chinese field surveys focused on areas along the China border, which are now judged to be largely opium-free. The Chinese have not yet shared their survey results, but UNODC hopes they would do later this year. FOOD FOR WORK -------------- RANGOON 00000255 002.2 OF 002 ¶6. (U) Addressing the development situation in former opium growing areas, WFP country director Christopher Kaye said that the regime's top-down approach of declaring opium-free zones without offering other development options left 82 percent of households in those regions without enough income to meet basic nutritional needs. UNODC surveys indicate that families in those regions previously drew over half their household income from poppy cultivation. The amount of rice they can grow on small plots is not sufficient to feed their families throughout the year. UNODC, FAO, and WFP programs from 2004 through 2006 provided 375,000 people at risk with food-for-work programs to plant new crops and improve local infrastructure. ¶7. (U) For the third phase in 2007-08, WFP plans to phase out direct assistance and focus on alternate livelihoods and a mosaic of separate NGO projects in both northern and southern Shan State. WFP's relations with the regional commanders in 2006 significantly improved from 2005, Kaye said, and WFP had worked out ways to purchase local rice for its programs without being taxed. However, WFP and UNODC remain concerned about the sustainability of program funding and the difficulty of shifting from direct food aid to longer-term assistance in areas still unable to generate sustainable income to feed themselves. UNODC country director Shariq bin Raza reported that the UN Country Team in Burma decided in mid-February to bring UNICEF and UNDP into the program to help transition regional assistance from emergency relief to long-term development, with UNODC continuing to play the coordinating role. ¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: Improved coordination with China resulted in significant seizures and arrests in 2006, and Thailand's new liaison position and Australia's efforts to train more CCDAC officers and enhance data collection may also help. However, Burma's drug traffickers exploit the country's porous borders with ease and have moved from reliance on traditional opium growing into new, smaller, more mobile ATS and heroin processing labs. Until law enforcement can effectively counter rampant corruption along Burma's borders, the country's narcotics trade will remain a major headache for the entire region. End comment. VILLAROSA