Burma's nuclear weapons aim 'clear and disturbing'

Fresh claims that Burma is trying to acquire the know-how and materials to build a nuclear weapon, based on informations provided by a former army officer, are published today, renewing concern about the level of the junta's military ambitions.

Unrealistic experiments and basic engineering suggest that success may be past Burma's reach, say researchers for an resistance Burmese media group. They base their claims on information provided by Sai Thein Win, a former major in the Burmese army, who is said to have been trained in Russia in missile technology. He has since defected from Burma.

"The goal is clear and that is a very disturbing matter for international agreement," said the researchers, Robert Kelley and Ali Fowle, of the Democratic Voice of Burma. "Burma is trying to build piece of a nuclear programme, specially a nuclear reactor to make plutonium and a uranium enrichment programme".