Hidden Terror: Clearing Laos’ Unexploded Bombs Has a Downside

UPDATED at 6:15 PM EDT on 05-16-2023

The years-long process of cleaning up unexploded bombs dropped on Laos by US bombers during the Vietnam war has run out of funds in three southern provinces, and workers say they are not paid for their work.

Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world, with an estimated 80 million unexploded ordnance ordnance, or UXO, still scattered throughout the country with a large concentration in the southern part of the country.

Bomb remnants have hampered the country’s development with most of Laos’ approximately 7.5 million people living on UXO-contaminated land and vulnerable to deadly blasts from what they call “bombs” – submunitions the size of fireballs. unexploded sneakers from cluster bombs found in shallow ground, among tree branches, or in furrows in fields.

Foreign funding from the Japanese government to remove the bombs dried up a year ago, said a Sekong province official who, like other sources, declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Workers in three southern provinces, Saravane, Sekong and Champassak, say they have not been paid since last May.

An employee in Sekong province said he and his colleagues have been working without pay while waiting for their salaries, mainly doing office work, taking care of equipment and working with their head office and villagers who have problems with unexploded bombs and they need advice.

While there is an agreement for the next phase, the money has not yet been received, he said.

“If we get it, we will use it for administration costs and the salaries of employees who were not paid,” he told Radio Free Asia. “Some of the workers are still employed and awaiting back pay, but others have quit and found new jobs to support their families,” she added.

Only 1% cleared

Approximately 30% of Laos is contaminated with unexploded ordnance. Only 1% has been cleared since the last bomb was dropped in 1973, according to the New York-based NGO Legacies of War, which advocates for a bomb-free Laos.

of the 270 Millions of cluster bombs dropped on Laos, about 30%, or about 80 million, failed to detonate on impact and lay on the ground, the NGO says.

The Japanese government has provided more than 14 million US dollars to Laos over the past five years to support bomb disposal, education, health and other development activities, it reported. paxasona Laotian state weekly, earlier this month.

Now, the Japanese government has agreed to provide more than 800 million yen, or US$6 million, for bomb disposal and support local development and poverty reduction in the three southern provinces, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the three UXO teams in Saravane province have ceased operations after the latest round of Japanese funding dried up and are still waiting to get paid.

High-ranking officials know that funding ran out and that UXO workers were not paid last year, said a provincial official who declined to be named.

Thong Beuy Sing Khao Pheth, leader of the UXO unit in Saravane, told Laotian media last week that teams cleared only 333 hectares (82 acres) out of a target area of ​​337 hectares (91 acres) in the past year, and that some employees have not yet been paid for previous work.

“Some employees have not received wages since January last year after the closure of the project,” said a UXO employee from the province. “The team leader said that we would have to wait for high-level officials to confirm when they will pay us.”

Translated by Sidney Khotpanya for Lao RFA. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

The story was updated to clarify that funding for UXO removal has dried up in three southern provinces.