US helps Laos remove unexploded ordnance
US President Barack Obama on September 6 pledged to provide Laos with US$90 million to implement a three-year project to detect and remove dozens of millions of unexploded bombs dropped by the US troops during the wartime.
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According to the CNN, the money will be used to help Laos search for around 80 million unexploded cluster bombs dropped in a secret campaign as part of the war in Vietnam 40 years ago.
Lao President Bounhang Vorachit welcomed the decision as a measure to boot mutual trust.
During 1964-1973, the US bombers released more than two million tonnes of bombs in Laos in an effort to disrupt the Vietnamese army’s supply lines.
According to the non-governmental organisation Legacies of War, based in the US, less than one percent of unexploded bombs in Laos have been removed so far.
Since 2010, the US has increased the fund for the removal of unexploded ordnance and supporting bomb and mine victims as the Congress authorised the government to spend at least US$5 million each year on the clearance of unexploded ordnance.
This year, the Congress passed a budget of US$19.5 million for the work.
