Don Pathan
The Nation
24 Mar 1999
Doi Sam Sao, Burma __ Something is cooking in Burma's northeastern frontier along the Thai border, and it's more than just chemicals being boiled in one of the numerous heroin labs belonging to Burma's narcotics trafficking groups.
For the past year or so, tension between the Burmese junta and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) has been building up, threatening to end a decade-old ceasefire agreement between Rangoon and the armed ethnic group--dubbed the world's largest armed narcotics' trafficking organization by the United States government. The generals in Rangoon have ordered the UWSA to move back to their stronghold in Panghsang on the Burmese border with China, so far issuing two ultimatums without specifying the consequences should the armed rebels not comply.
Naturally, the UWSA chose to ignore the demands and instead beefed up its logistics along the Thai-Burmese border opposite Chiang Mai province. At the same time, the group has begun to welcome outsiders, allowing Thai merchants to transport everything from household goods to construction materials. Twice a week, hundreds of local Thai merchants line up at the checkpoint just north of Chiang Mai's Ta Thon district to be screened by immigration and customs officers before entering what has long been a no-go area and only a couple of decades ago a place where headhunters roamed.
Border officials said thousands of Thai nationals are currently working in the Wa-controlled territory, building everything from a small dam to hospitals and schools. The checkpoint, located in Mae Ai district, was opened last August. A road construction project--financed by both the junta and the UWSA--which will link Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district to Mong Yawn and Mong Hsat, some 90 kilometers inside Burma's Shan State, is expected to be completed this year. A loop linking Mong Hsat to the popular border town of Tachilek opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district is also on the way.
"They are here to stay," said Maj Gen Chamlong Photong, chief-of-staff of the Thai Army's Third Region. "The pressure is on us to do something about it."
In fact, the Thai general added, the UWSA is on the verge of becoming the next druglord of the Golden Triangle, replacing Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army, who surrendered to the government three years ago in return for amnesty.
Thai and US drug agencies estimate that about 1,700 tonnes of raw opium were cultivated in the Triangle last year, down from 2,300 tonnes the previous year, partly because of bad weather. About 10 kilogrammes of opium is needed to make a kilogramme of heroin.
"The Wa are responsible for nearly half this amount," said Sorasit Sangprasert, deputy chief of Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board.
The UWSA came into existence shortly after the Communist Party of Burma crumbled a decade ago. A ceasefire agreement, orchestrated by Burma's security chief Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, was reached soon afterwards. The idea, say Burma watchers, was to neutralize a 20,000-plus strong army that had enough weapons to last them at least a decade. Rangoon didn't want these weapons, most of which came from China, to fall into the hands of other rebel groups. For the Wa, it was an opportunity to expand their heroin empire from their stronghold in Panghsang to a new frontier along the upper Thai-Burmese border.
But nothing comes easy in trouble-plagued Burma. The expansion meant that a war between Wa and the Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army, the Wa's arch-rival and business competitor, was inevitable. Three years ago, Khun Sa and his army surrendered to the junta and the territory once controlled by the former opium warlord was left up for grabs as Burmese, Thai and Wa troops rushed in to plant their flag poles.
A Wa commander overseeing the crossing point to Thailand said the UWSA will not make the same "mistake" as Kun Sa. Indeed, it's a very different story nowadays. With Khun Sa and his army out of the picture, the decade-old agreement is losing its appeal as territorial control along the rugged conflict-plagued borders becomes a higher priority for certain sectors in the junta's ruling body known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
The SPDC has demanded that the UWSA retreat to the Chinese border. Essentially, this would mean that their heroin and methamphetamine network through Thai gateways would be shut. Thai military officers, however, say the implications are too great for the Burmese to begin a war with the Wa.
"The situation makes it difficult for us," Chamlong said. "Besides, the Chinese don't want them along their border either." In fact, the growing drug problem in Yunnan province forced the Chinese authorities to summon UWSA leader Pao Yochang for a stern warning. At one point, the Chinese threatened to cut off the flow of food to Wa territory.
Nevertheless, the pressure is on Thailand to do something about the flow of drugs into the Kingdom. No longer is the group producing heroin for European and American markets. Instead, narcotics officials insist, millions of methamphetamines--known locally as yaa baa--produced cheaply by the group have flooded into Thailand.
"It's cheap to produce and the market is right here in Thailand," Sorasit said.
During a recent two-day visit to Thailand, Burmese Foreign Minister Aung Win dismissed allegations that Rangoon is to blame for the rise in the methamphetamine problem in Thailand, saying the precursor chemicals needed for producing the stimulants come from abroad.
"Besides, how do you know the drugs are not made here (in Thailand])" he added. "They could be produced anywhere."
Burma has come up with an ambitious plan to end opium cultivation nationwide within 15 years. The plan has received praise from some in the international community.
Critics say the ruling junta is too willing to appease insurgent groups as foreign condemnations take a back seat to stability in the hinterland.
"They choose to ignore the reality (in Burma)," Win Aung said. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if the junta is willing to pick a fight with one of the world's largest producers and traffickers of illicit drugs.
Besides, the generals in Rangoon have other pressing issues to deal with, namely the dry-season offensive against armed ethnic groups who refused to sign a cease-fire agreement with the government, Chamlong said.
Meanwhile, all parties agree that it is a matter of time before the Wa and Burmese begin fighting each other again.
