No.18 - 05/2006
26 May 2006

Drugs

Life tough after Wa opium ban

Reporter: U Sein Kyi

Almost a year following the zero production declaration during last year's World Anti-Drugs Day (26 June) by Wa supreme leader Bao Youxiang, thousands of ex-farmers in the Wa region of Shan State are facing a grim future despite reassuring statements by their leaders, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.

The outward growth and prosperity at Panghsang, the Wa capital, and the immediate surrounding areas, are concealing the sufferings and wailings further away in the hills and gullies, they say.

Panghsang may be touting its extensive rubber plantation project, but it is not so big that everyone has work to do and food to eat. On the contrary, the situation has turned from bad to worse:

One, forbidden from growing poppies, people have turned to growing paddy. But Wa farmers' shifting cultivation calls for moving their upland fields from place to place unlike growing poppies, where the same field can be used season after season. "Wa authorities have started to frown upon our age-old way of cutting down and burning trees to grow crops," said a local. "Especially after the water level in the Nampang dam was so low the turbines stopped functioning earlier this month. Panghsang went without electricity for over a week as a result."

Three, assistance by the UN and NGOs are coming insufficiently. "We are grateful," said the local, "but our problem doesn't go away."

Last but not least, all the savings accumulated during the last years prior to the opium ban are draining away. "I don't know," he sighed. "I'll probably move to some place where I can still grow poppies. I hear the Burma Army is not as strict with opium as the Wa."

Markmang, a Wa township southwest of Panghsang and under Burma Army control, boasted a bumper crop during the 2005-2006 season.

Little known to outsiders, Bo Mon, leader of the Manpang militia force, who controls areas south of Lashio and north of Mongyai and Tangyan in northern Shan State, which include Khun Sa's Loimaw, had also imposed an opium ban. He was awarded an Outstanding Social Services Prize First Class last April. Bo Mon, 60, is also known to be a big time drug kingpin.

It is not known whether Bao Youxiang, who had vowed to have his head chopped off if any poppy fields remain in his domain, was approached for the award.

Drug experts meanwhile have argued that the "Cold Turkey" style opium ban alone is not sustainable.