Myanmar

Il Myanmar (l’ex Birmania) è diventato la prima fonte di oppio al mondo per effetto dell’instabilità interna e della drastica riduzione delle coltivazioni in Afghanistan. E’ quanto afferma un rapporto pubblicato dalle Nazioni Unite. Il rapporto, stilato dall’Ufficio sulle droghe e il crimine delle Nazioni Unite (Unodc), sottolinea che la coltivazione di oppio in Afghanistan è crollata del 95% nell’arco di un solo anno a seguito del divieto imposto dal governo talebano.

Di contro, l’instabilità politica, sociale ed economica che grava sul Myanmar dopo il golpe militare del 2021 ha spinto molti agricoltori di quel Paese a coltivare oppio: nell’ultimo anno il prezzo dei fiori ha raggiunto i 355 dollari al chilogrammo, e la superficie coltivata nel Myanmar è aumentata del 18% a circa 47.000 ettari su base annua. La coltivazione dell’oppio si è diffusa soprattutto nello Stato birmano settentrionale di Shan, e avrebbe consentito ai gruppi armati locali di finanziare la pesante offensiva sferrata contro le forze armate a partire dallo scorso ottobre.

The production of opium increased sharply in Myanmar, rising to a nine-year high, according to the UN.

It touched nearly 795 metric tonnes in 2022, nearly double the production in 2021 – 423 metric tonnes – the year of the military coup.

The UN believes this is driven by economic hardship and insecurity, along with higher global prices for the opium resin that is used to make heroin.

The coup plunged much of Myanmar into a bloody civil war that still continues.

“Economic, security and governance disruptions that followed the military takeover of February 2021 have converged, and farmers in remote, often conflict-prone areas in northern Shan and border states, have had little option but to move back to opium,” said Jeremy Douglas, the regional representative for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The region, where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos meet – the so-called Golden Triangle – has historically been a major source of opium and heroin production.

The UN report released on Thursday said Myanmar’s economy was confronted by external and domestic shocks in 2022 – such as the Russia-Ukraine war, continued political instability and soaring inflation – which provide “strong incentives” for farmers to take up or expand opium poppy cultivation.

Myanmar is the world’s second-largest producer of opium, after Afghanistan. The two countries are the source of most of the heroin sold around the world. Myanmar’s opium economy is valued at up to $2bn (£1.6bn), based on UN estimates, while the regional heroin trade is valued at approximately $10bn.

But over the past decade crop substitution projects and improving economic opportunities in Myanmar have led to a steady fall in cultivation of the opium poppy.

The annual opium survey conducted by the UN, however, shows that production in Myanmar has risen again. Opium production in 2022 has been the highest since 2013, when the figure stood at 870 metric tonnes.

Since the coup the UN has also monitored even larger increases in synthetic drug production. In recent years, this has supplanted opium as the source of funding for armed groups operating in the war-torn border areas of Myanmar.

However, opium requires a lot more labour than synthetic drugs, making it an attractive cash crop in a country where the post-coup economic crisis has dried up many alternative sources of employment.

Opium farmers’ earnings grew last year to $280/kg, a sign of the attractiveness of opium as a crop and commodity, as well as strong demand. It is a key source of many narcotics, such as heroin, morphine and codeine.

Opium poppy cultivation areas in 2022 rose by a third to 40,100 hectares, according to the report, which also pointed to increasingly sophisticated farming practices. Average opium yields have also risen to the highest value since the UNODC started tracking the metric in 2002.

Mr Douglas said Myanmar’s neighbours should assess and address the situation: “They will need to consider some difficult options.”

He added that these solutions should account for the challenges people in traditional opium-cultivating areas face, including isolation and conflict.

“At the end of the day, opium cultivation is really about economics, and it cannot be resolved by destroying crops which only escalates vulnerabilities,” said Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC’s country manager for Myanmar.

He added: “Without alternatives and economic stability, it is likely that opium cultivation and production will continue to expand.”

According to an earlier UNODC report, prices for opium soared in Afghanistan last spring after the ruling Taliban announced a ban on cultivation.

Soldiers have been accused of killing 13 people from a village in central Myanmar, 11 of whose burned bodies were discovered on Tuesday.

The incident occurred near the city of Monywa, after local militias opposing military rule carried out at least two bomb attacks on a military convoy.

Locals say soldiers then swept through nearby villages, rounding up and killing six men and five teenagers.

The military junta is yet to comment on the incident.

Locals say that people’s defence forces volunteers – armed groups formed to resist military rule in towns and villages – from the area planted two improvised explosives on a road used by the military in an attempted attack.

One of these devices detonated early, killing the two men planting it. When the second device exploded, two more men were reportedly detained and shot dead.

Residents allege the military then swept through nearby villages, rounding up and capturing six men and five teenage boys, who were in hiding. Their hands were tied, and they were shot before their bodies set alight.

Armed volunteer people’s defence forces in towns and villages in Myanmar have carried out hundreds of bombings and assassinations targeting officials working with the military government after the violent suppression of pro-democracy rallies made peaceful protest almost impossible.

What is the background to the violence?

Mass protests had broken out across Myanmar after the military seized control of the South East Asian country in February and declared a year-long state of emergency following a general election.

The military claimed there had been widespread fraud during the election late last year, which had returned elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to power. The election commission has dismissed these claims.

Since then, the military has engaged in a brutal campaign of repression, killing at least 1,303 people in the demonstrations and arresting more than 10,600.

Earlier this week, Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in prison for inciting dissent and breaking Covid-19 rules, in the first of a series of verdicts that could see her jailed for life.

Monywa is also close to a controversial Chinese-owned copper mine, which has provoked protests from local villagers going back 10 years over grievances that the Chinese company operating it, Myanmar Wanbao, is in a joint venture with a conglomerate controlled by the Myanmar military.

The United Nations’ Security Council discussed the International Court of Justice’s order that Myanmar do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya Muslims. It however, failed to agree on a statement.

The country denounced claims that it tried to exterminate the minority in a bloody 2017 crackdown by its military, during which some 740,000 Rohingya were forced to flee into camps in Bangladesh.

After evidence showed that Myanmar’s government intentionally targeted its Rohingya Muslim minority, the top court in the Hague ordered the country to stop its genocidal campaign against the Rohingyas.

According to diplomats, France, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Belgium urged Myanmar to comply with measures meant to prevent genocide set forth by the court. According to a diplomatic source, China and Vietnam opposed issuing a joint declaration by the entire council during the closed-door meeting of the Council.

“Accountability of perpetrators of human rights and humanitarian law violations is a necessary part of this process”, the EU members said, adding that “Myanmar must address the root causes of its conflicts”.

Myanmar’s case is the third genocide case filed at the court since World War II. A motion to protect the Rohingyas from an extermination campaign was first launched in November when the Gambia accused Myanmar of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention. The Gambia asked the court for emergency measures to stop Myanmar’s “ongoing genocidal actions”.

Myanmar’s civilian leader, the now-disgraced Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been accused of overseeing the genocide against Rohingyas. She said in court that Myanmar was defending itself against attacks by Muslim militant groups.