ລາວໂຮມລາວ ເພື່ອປະຊາທິປະໄຕ

Vietnamese army named as major timber smuggler
02/08/2011 20:51:18
news/laos-logs

TRACED: The green paint marked logs from Laos were found in a Vietnamese port, where a worker admitted that more than 90 per cent of the wood was from Laos

Military a key player in illegally transporting raw timber from Laos

August 2011: The pivotal role played by the Vietnamese military in a multi-million dollar timber smuggling operation has been exposed after a series of undercover operations.

The timber is being smuggled over the Vietnamese border from the shrinking forests of neighbouring Laos.

Laos has some of the Mekong region's last intact tropical forests, but the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals its export ban on raw timber is routinely flouted on a massive scale to feed the ravenous timber processing industries of Vietnam, China and Thailand.

During undercover operations in 2010 and 2011, EIA agents posing as timber buyers tracked a trail of corruption and inadequate enforcement back from the busy furniture factories and ports of Vietnam to its border with Laos and beyond.

Corrupt officials and well-connected businessmen the only beneficiaries
Through investment in logging, plantations and hydropower projects, Vietnamese firms have appropriated large swathes of Lao forests, yet the only winners in Laos are corrupt Government officials and well-connected businessmen. Meanwhile, Vietnamese logging companies and furniture factories are booming on the back of the illegal trade, exporting billions of dollars worth of finished wood products to the major markets of the USA and European Union.

And EIA's investigations revealed that one of the biggest loggers in Laos is a company owned by the Vietnamese military.

Investigators first encountered the Vietnamese Company of Economic Cooperation (COECCO) in October 2010 during a visit to Qui Nhon port, documenting huge piles of logs bearing green paint marks and tagged with yellow labels bearing a Vietnamese name which translated into Company of Economic Cooperation - Ministry of Defence (or COECCO). A port worker said 95 per cent of the logs had come from Laos and most were owned by the Vietnamese military; specifically Military Zone 4.

Laos's legitimate wood processing trade is suffering
EIA investigators travelled to COECCO's headquarters in Vinh City, Vietnam, in May and learnt COECCO has been in the timber trade and logging business in Laos for more than 20 years, that it sources most of its logs from Lao dam clearance sites and that it is one of a handful of companies permitted to carry out logging in these areas.

A well-connected Lao company is also making a fortune trading logs to Vietnam; the Phonesack Group, the boss of which is connected with the Lao Government, prefers to send logs across the border while its own wood processing struggles to get supplies of raw material.

EIA Head of Forest Campaign Faith Doherty said: ‘EIA first exposed the illicit log trade between Laos and Vietnam in 2008, and our latest investigations reveal that sadly nothing has changed.

‘The governments of Vietnam and Laos urgently need to work together to stem the flow of logs and curb the over-exploitation of Laos' precious forests before it's too late, and the Vietnamese military must be excluded from logging operations in Laos.

‘With a new Timber Regulation coming into force within European markets in 2013, both Vietnam and Laos have a lot at stake and urgently need to work with the European Union.'

ໂຈນແກວລັກຕັດໄມ້ລາວແຕ່ສັຕວັດທີ່ແລ້ວໂດຍການຮ່ວມມືກັບບັກນາຍພົນແຈ້ງໄຊຍະວົງ
ກະກໍ່ມາແກ້ຂ່າວໃນສັຕວັດນີ້ເອງ

ປ່າໄມ້ບ້ານກູຫົມດແລ້ວ ສຶ່ ຈາກທົ່ວໂລກເຂົາລາຍງານ ແລ້ວຍັງຊີມາເສຶອກວ່າບໍ່ໄດ້ຂະໂມຍໄມ້ລາວອິກບໍ



LAOS – L’armée vietnamienne serait impliquée dans la contrebande de bois
0 Commentaires
Envoyer Imprimer

L’armée vietnamienne joue un rôle important dans la contrebande
de bois en provenance des forêts du Laos, une activité qui rapporte
plusieurs millions de dollars et menace des millions de vies, indiquait
le rapport d'une ONG publié jeudi. Hanoi a nié les accusations de
l’Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) basée à Londres qui a déclaré
que ses opérations d’infiltration avaient révélé que l’un des plus gros
exploitants forestiers au Laos est une société détenue par l’armée
vietnamienne. Même si le Laos possède les dernières forêts tropicales
intactes de la région du Mékong, l’interdiction d’exporter du bois brut
“est souvent bafouée à grande échelle” pour alimenter les industries
“voraces” du Vietnam, de Chine ou de Thaïlande, indique l’EIA. “Ce qui
arrive ici est de la déforestation déplacée. Le Vietnam est presque en
train d’annexer des pans entiers du Laos pour alimenter son industrie”,
a déclaré Julian Newman, directeur de campagne de l’EIA, lors de la sortie
du rapport à Bangkok. Les opérations d’infiltration du groupe se concentrent
sur la société détenue par l’armée vietnamienne, Company of Economic
Cooperation (COECCO), qui récupère la plupart du bois sur les sites de
construction des barrages. La corruption "généralisée” dans le Département
des forêts du gouvernement du Laos permet la contrebande de bois
avec 500.000 mètres cubes valant au moins 150 millions de dollars qui
traversent la frontière avec le Vietnam chaque année, indique l’EIA. Une
porte-parole du ministère des Affaires étrangères à Hanoi a nié les
accusations lors d’une conférence de presse. "Il n’y a pas de contrebande
de bois au Laos par l’armée vietnamienne”, a expliqué Nguyen Phuoang Nga.
"Toute exploitation inégale ou contrebande de bois sera rigoureusement
traitée selon les lois vietnamiennes”. Newman a déclaré qu’il trouvait ironique
que le Vietnam "reconnaisse le besoin de protéger ses propres forêts alors
qu’il les prend à côté de chez lui”.

(http://www.lepetitjournal.com/bangkok.html avec AFP) lundi 1er août 2011