US bolsters UXO clearance in Xieng Khuang, Khammuan

The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) Laos and the United States Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement are continuing their history of successful partnership in Xieng Khuang and Khammuan provinces with a new 12 month unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance project worth US$1.4 million.

Mr Phoukhieo Chanthasomboun ( left ) and Mr David Horrocks shake hands after signing the MOU.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) and MAG Laos was signed yesterday in Vientiane.

NRA Director Mr Phoukhieo Chanthasomboun and MAG Country Director Mr David Horrocks jointly signed the document witnessed by US Ambassador to Laos Ms Karen Stewart and officials from the two provinces and MAG.

The project will be carried out in Phaxay, Khoun, Thathom and Nonghaet districts of Xieng Khuang province, as well as Ghommalath, Mahaxay and Bualapha districts of Khammuan province, focusing on conducting a survey for prioritisation of UXO clearance to support socio-economic development activities.

The project has built upon the success of previous projects funded by the Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. Partnerships with numerous development organisations will enable MAG Laos to ensure that these clearance outputs become development outcomes.

MAG is a British non-government organisation which started operations in Laos in 1994. MAG operations in Laos are highly recognised by the Lao government.

“Since the beginning of its operations in the country, MAG Laos has been working hard to liaise with donors for funding to support its UXO clearance activities which benefit local communities, reduce injuries and deaths from dangerous UXO. In the same way UXO clearance enables local communities to access more safe land,” said Mr Phoukieo at the signing ceremony.

Since 1996, funding from the US government to support UXO clearance in Laos has reached US$30 million.
Mr Phoukhieo, represen-ting the NRA and the Lao government, expressed gratitude and thanks to the US government for its support of socio-economic development in Laos.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Mr Horrocks said extensive UXO spread across a wide swathe of the country not only poses a risk to people carrying out normal activities such as farming, but also prevents or delays development activities and indeed adds to their cost.

Through the work of five UXO clearance teams, significant amounts of contaminated land will be cleared of UXO, he said, adding that, ultimately, the project will contribute to the Lao government's poverty eradication strategy and Millennium Development Goal No. 9.

Ms Stewart expressed her hope that the MOU would help to ensure the continuation of vital clearance work and activities that will allow Lao children to attend school in a safe environment, return land to communities for agriculture and other economic development, and allow construction of infrastructure such as better road access to healthcare facilities.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update October 28, 2011)

200,000 ha Planned to be Free UXOs by 2020

KPL News - Laos plans to scrap off the UXOs on 200,000 ha land by 2020, said a senoir official.

By 2015, more than 12,500 ha of contaminated areas will be free, of which 11,800 hectares will be able to use for agricultural production and other 600 hectares for other farms of development.

Over 50,000 Lao people have been fallen to UXOs victims from 1964-2008, of which 60 percent were killed and 40 percent injured.

The Cluster Munitions is a convention for prohibiting all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of Cluster Munitions.

Lao government is focusing on clearance of cluster munitions in Laos to make the safe lands for people to farm, said Mr. Phoukhiew.

Over 2 million tonnes of ordnance was dropped on Laos between 1964.
Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita, after over 270 million cluster munitions were dropped on the country during the war from 1964 to 1973.

He said that more than 80 million items of cluster munitions are scattered in 14 out of 17 provinces of countrywide out of 87,000 square kilometers or about 1/3 of total area in the country.

41 districts out of 46 poorest districts in Laos have UXO contamination, according the National Survey of UXO victim and accident phase 1. Of this 20,000 people, some 13,500 lost a limb, 25% of total casualties were in Savannakhet province, and 12% of total casualties were in Xiengkhoung province.

Over the last decade (1996-2008) there have been approximately 300 new casualties annually, but it fell down to 117 people in the period of 2009-2010.

UXO/Mine action operations, over the period 1996 to August 2011, have 1,315,433 items of UXO destroyed, including 6,154 big bombs, 537088 cluster sub-munitions, 6,609 mines and 765,582 other UXO items.

Over 27,400 hectares of land cleared of this figure, of which 19,138 hectares were use for agricultural and 8,297 hectares were use for development.

Development partners sign up to reduce UXO threat in Savannakhet

The European Commission (EC), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), French Development Agency (AFD) and Handicap International have provided more than 1.2 million euros in support of the Lao government's efforts to reduce the impact of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Savannakhet province.

Mr Phoukhieo Chanthasomboun and Ms Anne Rouve-Khiev shake hands after signing the memorandum of understanding . --Photo Sangkhomxay

DA memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the support was signed yesterday in Vientiane between the Lao National Regulatory Authority (NRA) and Handicap International. NRA Director Mr Phoukhieo Chanthasomboun and Country Director of Handicap International Laos Ms Anne Rouve-Khiev signed the MOU.

The assistance will go towards implementing a project from 2011 to 2012 in 53 villages in Xepon, Nong, and Vilabouly districts with the aim of protecting children, their families and communities from the UXO threat by focusing on roving and area clearance, risk reduction and community liaison, and district focus surveys.

The two-year MOU is a con tinuation of many years of collaboration between the NRA, authorities and communities in Savannakhet province and Handicap International, which has resulted in substantial achievements over past years.

“I was very impressed by the qua lity of the feedback we received from all our partners regarding our past intervention and was very pleased with the quality of dialogue between our teams, the local authorities and the National Regulator y Authority,” said Ms Rouve-Khiev.

As a major donor, the EU has, through the EU budget and bilateral assistance from 13 EU member countries, supported the UXO sector in Laos with a total estimated amount of more than 21 million euros.

Acting EU Charge d'Affaires to Laos Dr Stefan Lock said the EU is committed to continuing the efforts of Laos and supporting the achievement of Millennium Development Goal No. 9.

He added that the EU is currently finalising a new project which will aim to reduce the impacts of UXO on rural livelihoods and rural development.

Mr Phoukhieo expressed appreciation for the achievements brought about by cooperation efforts in past years and thanked the development partners for their support, adding that the NRA has learned from previous evolutions of the project and Handicap International has coordinated well to implement the project in Savannakhet province.

By T imes Reporters
(Latest Update October 18, 2011)

Almost 100 people killed or injured by UXO this year

A nationwide survey on victims of unexploded ordnance (UXO) conducted from January to September has revealed that 16 people died and 81 were injured this year, according to the National Regulatory Authority (NRA).

“We help UXO victims by paying hospital fees and providing wheelchairs and pr osthetic limbs,” NRA's Victim Assistance Unit Head Mr Bountao Chanthavongsa, said on Friday.

About 8,747 villages across the country are affected by UXO and, since 2008, more than 500 people have been killed or injured by explosions.

Mr Bountao said more than 50,000 people were killed or injured between 1964 and 2007 and UXO still claims about 300 victims a year.

Most of the bombs explode when farmers are clearing land, when villagers try to collect bombs so they can sell the scrap metal, or when children unwittingly play with UXO.

An official working at the rehabilitation centre in Savannakhet province, Mr Paeng Xayaphet, said there have been about 250 victims of past UXO accidents from Nong, Vilabouly, Xepon, Xayphouthong, Outhoumphone and Kaysone Phomvihane districts.

“We do not charge them for rehabilitation, education or accommodation and we pay for round-trip transportation between their house and the centre,” he said.

The rehabilitation centre is running a project to provide primary school education and vocational training for UXO victims.

Phase1 of the project began in 2006 and phase 2 runs from May 2010 to November 2011. Project funding, provided by Handicap International Belgium, amounts to more than 3.2 billion kip (about US$402,000).
Mr Paeng said the centre only has a primary school but on completion students can attend the Sikeud Vocational School or the Lao-Korea Vocational School in Vientiane.

“They can choose whether or not to continue their education in Vientiane. We don't send them there if they don't want to go,” he added.

It is mostly people with leg injuries that choose to go to vocational schools because it is easier for them to learn a skill if they still have the use of their hands, he explained .

Other accident victims prefer to run a small business in their village such as a shop. In these cases the project offers them a one-year, interest free loan of 1 million kip, which gives the recipient time to get established before having to pay back the loan, Mr Paeng said.

Some victims find work in the province as cleaners, maids, weavers or in television repair after finishing primary school.

Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in history, with up to 25 percent of its villages contaminated with UXO.

From 1964 to 1973, over 2 million tonnes of ordnance were dropped on Laos by enemy aircraft. With around 30 percent of munitions failing to explode on impact, about 80 million devices are still thought to remain.

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update October 17 , 2011)

UXO clearance body switches ministries

The National Regulatory Authority (NRA) now falls under the authority of the Ministry to the Government Office in line with prime ministerial decree No. 164.

Mr Bounheuang Duangphachanh shakes hands with Ms Onechanh Thammavong after signing documents on the new status of the National Regulatory Authority.

Minister to the Government Office and President of the National Leading Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation Mr Bounheuang Duangphachanh will now serve as Vice Chairman of the NRA, replacing Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Ms Onechanh Thammavong in that capacity.

The focus of the NRA's work will continue to be the clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and accident victim assistance.
“Under the Ministry to the Government Office, we hope the NRA will be able to conduct some activities faster, especially in regards to UXO clearance,” Mr Bounheuang said at a ceremony to announce the changes to organisational structure yesterday.

Of the more than 2 million tonnes of bombs, including 280 million cluster bombs, that were dropped on Laos during the Indochina War from 1964 to 1973, about 30 percent did not detonate. To eradicate poverty and improve standards of living, especially in rural areas, the clearance of UXO is a priority issue.

UXO clearance is slow at present because workers have difficulty differentiating UXO from other metal objects buried in the ground. More than 28,000 hectares of contaminated land have been cleared since 1996.
Mr Bounheuang said NRA staff should not worry about the move from one ministry to another. There will be no changes in personnel and the NRA office will remain in its present location, he noted.
The NRA was established in 2004, in a bid to expedite UXO clearance throughout the country, Ms Onechanh said.

About 35 years after the war, Lao people continue to be severely affected by the post-conflict consequences, especially from the unexploded bombs dropped on Lao territory.

These are spread all over the country and continue to wreak havoc on the lives of rural people.
UXO has become an obstacle to livelihood activities, the country's development and continues to threaten the way of life of people whose lives depend on farming. It also has severe detrimental effects on the government's poverty eradication efforts and attempts to develop the nation, Ms Onechanh said.

Lao people have a strong desire for land that is free from UXO so that they can use the land to make a living, build homes and schools and set up safe places for sports activities.

In 2004 the government approved a National Strategic Plan for the UXO programme for 2003-13, called the Safe Path Forward. Now the NRA is drafting a new strategy plan for the 2013-2020 period.
Ms Onechanh said there are currently 15 UXO clearance agencies operating in Laos, including the Lao National UXO Programme (UXO Lao).

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update October 07 , 2011)