Hidden dangers from another era hinder economic development
An unexploded cluster bomb dropped by the U.S. military half a century ago is unearthed in Kasi, northern Laos.
KOSUKE INOUE, Nikkei staff writerJanuary 28, 2023 11:01 JST
KASI, Laos — Five decades have elapsed since the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on Jan. 27, 1973 that led to the end of the Vietnam War. The long conflict devastated all of Indochina, and its aftermath continues to stymie the region’s economic development.
Early this month, specialists of the Laotian military detected unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the northern town of Kasi. The team of about 10 found one cluster bomb the size of a tennis ball and used a loudspeaker to warn residents while cordoning off nearby roads before disposing of the device.
Operations of this type continue.
Southeast Asia’s most impoverished country is still grappling with accidents involving UXO from the Vietnam War, which ravaged the land more than half a century ago. Over 1,000 people were killed or injured by UXO between 2008 — when the government first began compiling data — and 2022.
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, more than 20 million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos during intense air raids during the war. The explosives included some 270 million small cluster bombs.
Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world, with an estimated 80 million UXO still scattered nationwide.
Of the bombs dropped by the U.S. military, 30% remain undetonated, leading to casualties every year. Some explode when farmers accidentally unearth them while working, others when people cook outdoors near aging and unseen ordnance. A village leader named Khambao says the danger is a constant worry to residents in the area.
Soupha, a 9-year-old boy in Kasi, is just one of the victims. In 2021, he picked up a bomb that he thought was a ball. It exploded, killing two friends who were playing with him at the time and leaving him seriously injured. His deeply scarred abdomen shows the seriousness of his wounds.
Supah, a 9-year-old boy in Kasi, is one of the victims. He mistook an exploded bomb for a ball and picked it up, causing it to detonate in 2021. The scars in his abdomen show the seriousness of his injuries.
UXO is widely believed to have hindered the country’s economic development. Land must be surveyed before constructing transportation infrastructure, industrial parks or farms, with some projects taking as long as three years owing to unexploded bombs, according to Chomyaeng Phengthongsawat, Director General of the National Regulatory Authority for the UXO/Mine Action Sector.
When the Lao-China railway connecting the city of Kunming in southern China and Vientiane opened in 2021, there were media reports that the railway would be extended to Vietnam. However, updates on the plan remain unknown, with the disposal of UXO possibly affecting progress.
The U.S. bombing of Laos was confidential at the time and was referred to as the “secret war” during the Vietnam War.
In 2016, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Laos, saying: “Whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a terrible toll, especially on innocent men, women and children,” later announcing that he had “dramatically increased our funding to help remove these unexploded bombs.”
However, Laos’s chronic fiscal deficit restricts the amount of money that can be allocated toward removal of UXO, and the slow progress of disposal ultimately weighs on economic growth
Even with assistance from Japan, the U.S. and others, Chomyaeng says the government faces constant budget shortfalls, leaving more than 90% of government-operated UXO detectors in disrepair.
CVD 