Thai PM cancels trip to Myanmar

Thai PM cancels trip to Myanmar

Reuters, Bangkok

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has canceled a visit to a
drug-producing region in neighboring Myanmar after Thai
intelligence officials cited security concerns.

Thaksin, who has waged a bloody war against drugs in his own
country, and Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt had been due to
visit Yong Kha village on Friday where a Thai-sponsored farming
scheme aims to shift farmers away from drug production.

"With all the reasons, I'd better attend my party seminar,"
Thaksin said on Tuesday, referring to a meeting of his ruling
Thai Rak Thai party on Friday.

Thaksin did not explain his decision, but on Monday he had
cited Thai intelligence reports suggesting that the area was
unsafe to visit.

The village, about eight km (five miles) from the northern
Thai-Myanmar border, is in an area controlled by the United Wa
State Army, former rebels in eastern Myanmar's Shan State allied
with the military junta in Yangon since 1989.

"I don't think the prime minister should go, it does not
provide us a comfortable feeling," said Deputy Prime Minister
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who is in charge of security affairs.

Thailand has singled out the Wa as the sole producer of
methamphetamine. Thai anti-drug authorities say one billion pills
of the stimulant drug flood into Thailand each year.

Thaksin said in March his life was in danger because drug
kingpins in the Wa area were enraged by his bloody war on drugs.

Thai newspapers then quoted unnamed security sources as saying
the drug lords had offered a bounty of 80 million baht to
assassinate him.

In August, Thaksin became embroiled in a war of words with
Myanmar authorities after he ordered Thai troops to kill Myanmar
traffickers crossing the border and accused Yangon of ignoring
the problem.

Relations between the neighbors and historic enemies have
occasionally deteriorated over Thai complaints about what it sees
as Myanmar's failure to act on drugs, and Yangon's accusations
that Thailand backs rebels fighting the junta.

Myanmar authorities said Khin Nyunt would send deputy
ministers and an army commander of the region there to welcome a
similar Thai delegation. "Prime Minister Khin Nyunt's planned
visit to Yong Kha has been canceled," a Myanmar anti-drugs
official told reporters.

Thailand has followed a policy of engagement with Yangon's
generals in recent years and opposed Western sanctions against
the junta over its lack of progress toward democracy and the
detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thaksin has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and
loans to Myanmar, and helped to broker talks between the
government and other rebel groups.

Last week, Thailand brought together a dozen countries to hear
Myanmar explain its plan to bring democracy to a country ruled by
the military since 1962.

But Yangon's pledge at the meeting to embark on a "road map to
democracy" next year drew skepticism from diplomats and the
opposition.