Thailand a 'bad neighbor'

Thailand a 'bad neighbor'

YANGON (AFP): Myanmar on Sunday condemned Thailand as a bad
neighbor for covering up its failure to address the nation's
drugs crisis by shifting the blame onto Myanmar.

"The Thai government officials have never made efforts to
effectively control the problem," the military regime said in an
official information sheet.

"It is comprehensible to all that Thai government officials,
instead of finding ways and means to solve their own problem by
themselves, issued news reports deliberately putting the blame on
Myanmar."

The official statement ticked off Thailand for discussing the
drugs issue via the media rather than through proper channels set
up to solve bilateral problems.

"Thus their act should be regarded as an act which is
violating the principles of good neighborliness".

The comments were the latest salvo in a brewing row between
the two countries over the production of methamphetamines on
Myanmar soil by Yangon-allied ethnic armies.

In what the Thai military has described as the nation's top
security threat, some 700 million methamphetamines pills are
estimated to make their way into Thailand each year, feeding a
massive addiction problem.

Thailand's new Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra fired the
opening shot in the war of words earlier this month by declaring
a "war on drugs" and ordering officials to find ways to close
down the narcotics trade.

The premier said he would demand explanations from Myanmar's
generals over the deadly flow of methamphetamines from jungle
refineries which also churn out vast quantities of heroin.

Myanmar lashed out at the tough new approach, saying Thailand
should put its own house in order before trying to use its
neighbor as a "scapegoat" for its drugs problems.

As the sparring continued, the Thai foreign ministry issued a
strongly worded statement that criticized the junta for its
tetchy response to the Thai initiative and invited Myanmar to
show the international community it was serious about fighting
drugs.

International drug enforcement authorities also blame Myanmar
for turning a blind eye to drugs production within its borders,
in return for cease-fire with the ethnic armies that control the
trade.