C
13
(1972)
SECRET
ECLIPSE
The Burmese would I imagine reply, as they have to the Americans, that they are aware of the problem and are doing what they can, but that the key to the situation lies in the countries which harbour those transporting and marketing the drugs; without the market provided by the latter, there would be no incentive to the growers. But before making such representations it would be as well to be clear what we wished to achieve by them and what we wanted the Burmese to do.
4.
The paper suggests that the objective should be to persuade them to accept UN assistance and (ideally) a programme for equipping and training the Burmese Army to enable it to gain control of the opium producing areas, though it correctly recognises that the latter is politically unacceptable. As we know, this is so: the Americans tried it and got nowhere (see Rigney's letter 19/1 of 27 June 1972 to Smart). My only surprise is that they should ever have thought it a starter. So one is left with the first objective, on which prospects are not unhopeful. First Sir Harry Greenfield of the International Narcotics Control Board and subsequently Carl Schurmann of the UN Special Fund have succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Burmese. They have had to overcome the resistance created by Nelson Gross's ham-handed tactics, though the contras with their own low-key and understanding approach may in fact have helped them. They, and the UN team which came here later, are going about things in the right way, and have a good chance of convincing the Burmese that it is in their own interests to co-operate. Unofficially I have lost no opportunity to point out the advantages to the Burmese of accepting a UN project, but I am by no means sure that official representations by us on the subject would persuade them to go further or faster than they themselves are prepared to go. Such is their dislike of being pressurised or ganged-up against that it could even drive them the other way.
5. It could perhaps be argued that to express concern even if nothing much comes of it is worth doing for its own sake, action being preferable
SECRET
2
?
TCLIPSE
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.