Wa having the last fling

Drugs

Wa having the last fling

Ceasefire sources returning from the Wa capital of Panghsang say they had witnessed poppies being grown "on the largest scale ever" in the Wa-controlled areas east of the Salween, writes S.H.A.N.'s special correspondent:

Even around Panghsang, the fields are simply extensive, although the output is difficult to predict. Some of the farmers have complained that there is less rain here than in other parts of the Wa region.

"Chairman Bao Youxiang have told us that this is our last date with opium", said one of the farmers who had played host to S.H.A.N..

"He says if there are any more poppy fields in the coming season, he's going to chop his head off and send it to Beijing."

Bao Youxiang who is among the eight Wa leaders indicted by a US court on 24 January has long promised zero-production in the Wa areas beginning 26 June, the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

Elsewhere in the Shan State, a bumper crop has been reported even in northern Shan State, where from 2001-2004, an all-out war on drugs was waged. However, since October when Gen Khin Nyunt was removed, the Army's focus has turned more and more inward at the expense of almost every other government projects. "They are oblivious to almost anything going on outside the town limits now," commented a businessman in Muse.

"So every township where I've been, Namkham, Muse, Kutkhai, Hsenwi and Tangyan in the north, where a few years ago people had been either short to death or jailed for growing poppies are blooming with poppy flowers again."