UXO clearance promotes development

Nearly a decade and a half after the end of the war, Laos is still working hard to clear its land of unexploded ordinance (UXO), reflecting the dedication of the government to its humanitarian goals and the alleviation of poverty.  A UXO worker clears remnants  of a bomb from a rice field in Laos The Lao National UXO programme (UXO Lao) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare conducts five different types of clearance operations: roving clearance, surface area clearance, shallow area clearance, deep area clearance and deep search.  All serve the purpose of clearing the land of UXO so that the local people of the poorer villages might use it for agriculture. According to the National Regulatory Authority UXO/Mine Action Sector in Laos (NRA), 41 of the 47 poorest districts nationwide are still contaminated with UXO.  Laos' UXO clearance teams focus on public land and buildings such as schools, markets and health care centres. In addition it also removes sub-surface explosives from sites where government development projects have been proposed, such as roads and irrigation canals.  The public relations officer of the NRA, Mr Bounpheng Sisawath, said that when people see UXO items in the rice fields of nearby villages, they can tell UXO Lao to come and clear it.  Roving clearance tends to UXO that has been sighted in a particular area, and therefore reduces the risks to people living in the contaminated areas, he told Vientiane Times .  “The teams respond to emergency calls from local people. This is what happens when daily life is affected by the presence of UXO and there is an immediate threat to people and their property,” he explained.  “They react to situations in which people have already found UXO and marked it, and when the explosives are seen above ground in fields or villages. Some of the operations are planned by UXO Lao, following community visits,” said Mr Bounpheng.  The surveying department of UXO Lao is responsible for the data collection that enables the team to establish which areas need priority clearance.  The members of the survey team use a combination of GPS units and hand drawn maps to pin point the exact location of the UXO. The teams always work in pairs and often travel to remote areas on off-road motorbikes.  “Their communication with the villagers is invaluable to the process of identifying the areas of contamination,” he said. He also added that the surveys are an integral part of the clearance operation as they provide the office with the information they need to prioritise certain areas and plan the clearance efforts.  “The surveys provide important data for the roving team to plan what equipment and resources they will need to complete their work quickly and efficiently,” he said.  A 2008 evaluation of the UXO sector showed that priority agricultural land could be cleared within 16 years at the present rate of clearance. With additional resources that could be reduced to 10 years.  From 1996-2009, more than 1 million items of UXO were destroyed, including big bombs, cluster sub-munitions, mines and other UXO fragments. The NRA also reported that during the same period over 23,000 hectares of land was cleared for agricultural use and development.  From 1964 to 1973, over 2 million tonnes of ordnance was dropped on the country by US warplanes, made up of 18 different types of bombs and including around 288 million cluster munitions. About 75 million unexploded bombs were left across Laos after the war ended.  Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. The bombs that were used were sub-cluster munitions, know to the local people as ‘bombies'.  By Khonesavanh Latsaphao Vientiane Times, 2010

Laos ready for cluster munitions meeting: govt

The government, speaking to all Lao people yesterday through the media, confirmed Laos' readiness to host the First Meeting of States Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane on November 9-12. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Thongloun Sisoulith said the meeting aims to set directions and measures as well as mechanisms for implementing the Oslo Convention, which came into force on August 1 this year. 

Almost 1,000 delegates from more than 100 countries and over 50 international organisations and NGOs are expected to attend the international meeting. 

As president of the national organising committee, Dr Thongloun said Lao President Choummaly Sayasone will be honoured to open the meeting on November 9. 

During the event, there will be a number of activities aiming to implement the Oslo Convention, which bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. 

The delegations will also have an opportunity to go on field visits to Xieng Khuang province, one of the provinces in Laos that is worst affected by UXO. The delegates will see a demonstration of UXO clearance and demolition as well as learning about how Lao people have been affected by the bombs for decades. 

Those at the four-day meeting will discuss various issues related to the implementation of obligations stipulated in the Oslo Convention such as UXO clearance, victim assistance, bomb demolition and international cooperation. 

The meeting expects to adopt four important documents including the Vientiane declaration, Vientiane plan of action, a work plan for 2011 and an agreement on reporting formats under the convention. 

Dr Thongloun will be elected as the chair of the cluster munitions conference in parallel with the four deputy chairs from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. 

Laos will hold the position of chair until the second meeting, when a new chair will be elected.

Acting as the host and the chair of the meeting is a heavy responsibility for Laos but the government considers it an honour to assume the task which will also contribute to enhancing the country's role and reputation in the international arena, Dr Thongloun said. 

The meeting in Laos will provide an opportunity for the international community to learn about the consequences of war and the impact of the use of cluster munitions on the Lao people over the past four decades. 

During the meeting, the Lao government will mobilise financial assistance from the international community to clear the bombs from the country so Lao farmers can expand their farmland and rise out of poverty. 

Hosting the meeting will reflect Laos' capability to fulfill its obligations in the international arena, Dr Thongloun said. 

He reiterated that as a s tate party to the convention, the Lao government attaches great importance to hosting the meeting, and has set up a national organising committee and eight sub-committees to prepare for the event. 

He urged Lao people of all ethnic groups to actively contribute by being good hosts as they have for international events in recent years, and to ensure order during the meeting. 

The deputy PM said the Lao people should take the opportunity presented by the meeting to demonstrate their fine culture, hospitality, friendly spirit, courtesy and determination to develop the nation in line with the policies of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the government.

By Somsack Phongkhao

(Latest Update October 22 , 2010)

A life shattered while looking for scrap metal

Residents of Phoxay village in Phalanxay district, Savannakhet province, have stopped collecting unexploded ordnance (UXO) to sell for scrap metal since a bomb exploded on a young man three years ago. 

Mr Xung was the first UXO victim in Phoxay village, and his family hope he will be the last.

A Lao media team took a field trip to visit UXO fields and victims in the province earlier this month; during the trip the team also had the opportunity to visit this young man in his village to find out what had happened to him. 

When we arrived in the village, Mr Xung, 24, was nowhere to be found.

His grandmother went outside to find him, calling out loudly “Xung! Xung! Where are you?” 

After ten minutes she came back and told the media team sadly that she couldn't find him anywhere in the village. 

Xung came home about half an hour later, but remained silent when questioned by some of the journalists.

“My grandson's brain was damaged in the explosion,” his grandmother told the group. Now Xung cannot speak and does not appear to understand when people talk to him. 

Even before his accident, Xung did not have an easy life. His parents abandoned him a few months after he was born, leaving him with his grandmother and never returning to the village. 

Xung's grandmother described the events leading up to the accident.

Her grandson had grown up into a handsome young man, she said. One day, he told her he wanted a motorbike. 

“Grandson! Grandson! Grandmother doesn't have enough money for you to buy a motorbike,” she answered.

“I see, grandmother. In that case I'll go out looking for UXO to sell for scrap metal, until I have enough money to buy one,” Xung said. 

Early the next morning, his grandmother went out hunting for red ant eggs in the forest near the village.

While she was busy searching the trees for ants' nests, she heard a bomb explode not far away.

“I hurried home because I was afraid Xung had been in a UXO accident, because he had told me the day before that he was going to look for scrap metal,” the old lady said. 

“When I got home, many people came to tell me Xung had been killed by a UXO explosion.”

“I was shocked when I saw his body on a push cart that villagers had brought him on from the forest; his body was covered in blood.”

Although many people told her that Xung was already dead, she refused to believe it and, with the help of other family members, she took him to hospital. 

Xung was not dead but he had lost his right eye and two fingers of his left hand.

“I raised four million kip by selling some of my buffaloes to pay the hospital fees to try and make my grandson better. In only four days, I spent all my money on his treatment,” she said. 

“I borrowed money from my relatives and friends to continue his hospital treatment until he was ready to come home.” 

Most explosions occur either while people are looking for scrap metal or firewood, farming the land or, in the case of children, playing with UXO. In addition, many children suffer UXO injuries while they are looking after grazing cattle. 

At present, Laos is on target to reduce the number of UXO victims in the 13 provinces most impacted by UXO - Attapeu, Borikhamxay, Champassak, Huaphan, Khammuan, Luang Prabang, Luang Namtha, Phongsaly, Saravan, Savannakhet, Xekong, Vientiane, and Xieng Khuang. Only three provinces of Laos – Bokeo, Oudomxay and Xayaboury – have less serious UXO problems. 

Survivors of UXO accidents often have to have a limb amputated, while some suffer loss of hearing or eyesight, or extensive burns.

In the 14 years since UXO clearance began, about 25,000 hectares of land have been cleared for agricultural use and development. It is estimated that about one percent of all UXO-contaminated land in Laos has been cleared, according to the Lao National Regulatory Authority (NRA). 

At present, around 300 people are killed or injured every year by UXO accidents. “We will try to reduce the number of accidents from 300 to 70 people per year,” NRA Director Mr Phoukieo Chanthasomboun said.

It is estimated that out of the 2 million tonnes of bombs, including 288 million cluster bombs, that were dropped on Laos by the US airforce between 1964 and 1973, some 30 percent did not detonate. 

During this time, a total of 580,000 deadly bombing missions were conducted by the Americans, an average of one bombing mission every eight minutes around the clock for nine years. 

The vast majority of the bombs used at the time were a new and lethal device called cluster bombs.

Within each of these bombs, locally known as ‘bombies', are upwards of 200 pieces of shrapnel which rip and maim unsuspecting victims. 

Mr Phoukieo said that since 1996 Laos has received assistance of about US$9 million a year to clear UXO, but last year the figure rose to US$19 million. 

Laos started clearing UXO-contaminated areas in 1996. From then until 2009 it is estimated that about one percent of all UXO-contaminated land in Laos has been cleared. 

Laos celebrated the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions on August 1 this year, and will host the first meeting of states party to the convention in November. 

So far, 108 countries have signed the convention and 38 have ratified it. The convention aims to prohibit all use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.

By Khonesavanh Latsaphao

Vientiane Times, 2010