UXO clearance makes progress

Laos continues to destroy unexploded ordnance (UXO) to clear contaminated land and pave the way for development, the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Mrs Onechanh Thammavong, said yesterday.

But, according to some United Nations experts, the land will not be cleared within the foreseeable future, with estimates putting the timeframe for the work at more than 100 years.

“We know Laos was the most heavily bombed country in the Indochina conflict,” the Japanese Ambassador to Laos, Mr Masaaki Miyashita, said at a ceremony in Vientiane yesterday to deliver grant assistance of US$861,280 (about 8.5 billion kip) to support the work of UXO Lao in Saravan, Xekong and Attapeu provinces.

UXO Lao, the national UXO clearance programme, has so far cleared 11,865 hectares of land since 1996.

“Clearance operations have destroyed more than 801,013 unexploded devices,” said the National Programme Director of UXO Lao, Mr Bounpone Sayasenh.

The government of Japan is one of the largest donors to UXO Lao. Since 1997, it has provided more than US$4.3 million to support operations in Attapeu, Saravan, Xekong, and Xieng Khuang provinces. The Japanese government is also the largest supporter of development projects in Laos .

The latest grant assistance will enable UXO Lao to continue related activities such as surveillance and community awareness as well as the actual clearance of ordnance in three provinces, Mr Bounpone said.

Laos is one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world, suffering from intense ground battles and aerial bombardment during the Indochina War.

More than 580,000 bombing missions resulted in more than two million tonnes of bombs being dropped during the 10 year period of conflict. About 30 percent of these did not explode on impact.

Much of the ordnance is in the country's 47 poorest districts. The lives and prosperity of people in these areas are still threatened by the explosives that lie buried in the ground.

It is estimated that more than 87,000 square kilometres are contaminated, and more than 12,000 people have suffered from UXO accidents in nine provinces since the end of the war in 1975.

According to UXO Lao, the organisation employs more than 1,000 employees, of whom around 85 percent assist w ith field operations.

UXO Lao receives support from Japan , Australia , Germany , Ireland , Luxembourg , Poland , Switzerland , the United Kingdom , the United Nations and the United States of America . The programme is also funded by private foundations such as World Without Mines.

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 25, 2008)