DONATION:  Thailand last week donated 1,000 tonnes of rice to Burma via the World Food Programme, to help revenue-depleted Shan areas due to the opium reduction scheme, the Thai embassy in Rangoon said.

The consignment was handed over by Thai ambassador Suphot Dhirakaosal to WFP country director Bhim Udas and witnessed by senior Burmese officials.

The donation was made upon a request from the WFP as humanitarian assistance for the Shan state, which has been suffering a food shortage due to UN-assisted and Rangoon-imposed drug suppression programme, whose crop substitution scheme has yet to bear fruit.