PRESS BRIEFING BY UN DRUG CONTROL PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UN DRUG CONTROL PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Despite a decline in its production of raw opium in 2000, Afghanistan remained by far the world's largest opium poppy producer, Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Launching the results of the annual opium poppy survey in Afghanistan, he said that the decline had been caused by a severe drought in the south of that country and many parts of the north. The harvest had fallen by 28 per cent, from a record 4,581 tonnes of opium in 1999 to 3,275 tonnes this year. Internal distribution of the area under production had not changed, Mr. Arlacchi said. The provinces of Helmand and Nangarhar had more than 62,000 hectares under cultivation, accounting for about 76 per cent of the national total. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities controlled 96 per cent of those areas this year, up from 90 per cent in 1999.

The UNDCP chief said that the only positive news from Afghanistan was that the agency's alternative development pilot projects in the Ghorak, Khakrez and Maiwand districts of Kandahar Province had resulted in a 50 per cent decrease in opium harvests. That demonstrated that such programmes worked very well, confirming that in the long term it was useful and productive to address the problem at the source.

On the regional level, he said, a meeting held yesterday by the Six-plus-Two group (neighbouring China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan as well as the Russian Federation and the United States) had approved an action plan comprising alternative development, a security belt around Afghanistan to strengthen border control and a reduction of drug demand in the region.

Demand had started to be a problem in most of the neighbouring countries, he said. However, the results of UNDCP's work in Tajikistan had facilitated the approval of the action plan. Mr. Arlacchi had reached a technical assistance agreement with that country's President by which the agency would support a national drug control programme. The agency, which had been operational for six months, had seen a dramatic increase in heroin confiscation.

He said that a parallel technical assistance programme with the Russian Federation had resulted in the confiscation of 800 kilograms of heroin by the Tajik drug agency, working with Russian border guards on the Afghan-Tajik frontier. That record amount was five times more than the previous confiscation level. It was more than most big European countries were able to seize in a year and, at less than $4 million spent on the project, far cheaper by a factor of more than 100 than any developed European country would have to spend to achieve a haul of similar size.

Asked how much bigger this year's heroin production was than that of 1999, Mr. Arlacchi said the potential production for Afghanistan had been about

UNDCP Press Briefing - 2 - 14 September 2000

327 tonnes, based on a calculated ratio of 1 tonne of raw opium to 10 tonnes of heroin. One half was consumed within the region, particularly in Pakistan and Iran, while the rest went to Western Europe through Turkey and the Balkans.

He told a journalist who asked about reduction in Latin America that Bolivia had eliminated coca cultivation by a dramatic 80 to 90 per cent in the last three years. There was also a consistent declining trend in Peru, which had reduced the area under cultivation by almost 70 per cent in the last four years. But there had been a very strong increase in Colombia, which almost balanced the reductions in the other two countries.

Mr. Arlacchi said there had been a significant decrease in worldwide circulation of cocaine in the last two or three years due to a tremendous increase in seizures. In the last five years, almost half the cocaine ready for marketing had been seized, a major shift compared to the last 30 years when 10 per cent was considered to be very good. There had also been a positive trend in worldwide seizures of heroin and opiates.

Another correspondent asked whether the budget for the Tajik-Russian operation was spent on enforcement or alternative production.

Mr. Arlacchi replied that former officers of the United Kingdom's Scotland Yard were training about 300 people in the Tajik drug control agency under United Nations auspices. The UNDCP was providing basic operational tools and paying salaries. The agency was equipping the Russian border guards to detect the movement of traffickers.

Asked what the European Union was contributing, since most of the drugs ended up in Western Europe, Mr. Arlacchi said the Union was supporting UNDCP's activities in Central Asia. It was hoped that they would come forward with more substantial assistance, given the results of the agency's action plan.

In response to another question, he told the same correspondent that even though Turkmenistan had not signed the regional action plan, the country preferred bilateral financing for its anti-narcotics activities.

Was there any difficulty in cooperation between Pakistan and Iran, since they were supporting different sides in the Afghan civil war? another journalist asked.

Mr. Arlacchi said the two countries were among the most active members of the Six-plus-Two group and he had seen no disagreement between them regarding the regional action plan and how to resolve the Afghanistan question. A strong consensus had emerged, and he hoped to bring the results of yesterday's meeting to the attention of the Security Council very soon.

Another journalist asked if there was any contact between the UNDCP and the United States regarding the anti-drug campaign in Colombia.

UNDCP Press Briefing - 3 - 14 September 2000

Mr. Arlacchi replied that the agency strongly supported the Colombia plan and had collaborated with that country's Government in writing the plan, particularly in the area of alternative development. There were also encouraging signs from the European Commission and European governments.

Could the Colombia plan destabilize the Latin American region? the same journalist asked.

Mr. Arlacchi said he had been struck by the low level of support from other Latin American governments. What Colombia was trying to do was beneficial to the region and the rest of the world. While guerrilla activities could be moved to neighbouring countries, such a shift could not be carried out on a large scale.

Furthermore, he noted, although coca cultivation could be moved to neighbouring countries, the soil of Brazil, for example, was not conducive to large-scale commercial cultivation. Secondly, the fight against armed groups should be a common endeavour of all Latin American countries, and not left entirely to Colombia.

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