Historie znad Mekongu - Vu Images

Laos, Golden Triangle, June 29, 2009 The Opium Mountains. In the highlands of the upper Mekong, the borders are permeable. An intense opium production is concentrated in the Golden Triangle, located between Laos, Thailand and Burma. Neighboring China officially stopped all production in the 1950s, but remains a platform for the market. Many smugglers and dealers come and go to buy the precious resin from the farmers. Poppy growing, from which opium is extracted, is the main source of income for some of the ethnic groups in the Laotian mountains, and particularly for the Hmong and Iko. The governments have attempted to eradicate opium production by directing the people towards other types of crop cultivation, such as fruit tree growing. However, it's not nearly as profitable and there is much resistance to these initiatives. Laos, Triangle d'Or, 29 juin 2009 Les montagnes de l'opium. Dans cette region montagneuse du haut Mekong, les fronticres sont permeables. Le Triangle d'Or, situe entre le Laos, la Tha?lande et la Birmanie, concentre une importante production d'opium. La Chine voisine, si elle en a arrete officiellement la production dans les annees 1950, demeure une plateforme vers les marches occidentaux. De nombreux trafiquants circulent pour acheter auprcs des paysans la precieuse resine. La culture du pavot, dont on extrait l'opium, est la principale source de revenu pour certaines ethnies montagnardes du Laos, en particulier les Hmong et les Iko. Les ?tats tentent d'eradiquer l'opium en dirigeant les populations vers d'autres types de cultures, notamment fruiticres. Toutefois, la rentabilite est moindre et les resistances nombreuses. Lam Duc Hien / Agence VU