Nong Hoi - The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, criticised Burma's tolerance of opium production yesterday on a visit to a Thai village where flowers and vegetables have replaced poppies.
Ms Albright told the villagers of Nong Hoi in northern Thailand she had come to show support for projects which improve the lives of the local hill tribes and which provide alternatives to opium cultivation. "This is in marked contrast to the country of Burma, where they are not doing the kind of things you are doing here," she told schoolchildren and local dignitaries.