[Ngo-lwg] VOA, Marianne Brown: More War-Era Munitions Uncovered in Vietnam

Chuck Searcy chucksearcy at yahoo.com
Sat Mar 2 12:58:25 ICT 2013


Voice of America

http://www.voanews.com/content/more-war-era-munitions-uncovered-in-vietnam-/1613410.html

More War-Era Munitions Uncovered in Vietnam 
Bomb on scales at scrap yard. (VOA/M. Brown) 


Marianne Brown
March 01, 2013 


QUANG TRI— The number of war-era bombs 
and mines reported in central Vietnam has risen in recent years as more 
contaminated land is cleared for development. Many people know the 
dangers but accidents continue to claim lives.

Nearly 40 years after the Vietnam War, an estimated 600,000 tons of 
unexploded ordnance, known as UXO, remain in the ground. Vietnamese 
authorities said these mortars, bombs and grenades have killed or 
wounded around 100,000 people since the war's end.


A French-era mortar discovered metres away from a kindergarten. (VOA/M. Brown) 

One of the most heavily contaminated provinces is Quang Tri, the scene 
of many ferocious battles and located just below the former 
demilitarized zone that once separated North and South Vietnam

Neither the United States nor Vietnam have signed the Anti-Personnel 
Mine Ban Convention of 1997 nor the 2008 Convention on Cluster 
Munitions. Experts say Vietnam is holding back so it can preserve its 
mine fields in the north of the country as a buffer against China, but 
it is making progress in negotiations on the treaty against cluster 
bombs.







.

Although non-governmental organizations have been removing unexploded 
ordinance in the province for over a decade, more land development and a
 better reporting system has lead to an increase in the amount of 
dangerous materials found in recent years.

Henk Liebenberg is technical operations manager for the Mines Advisory 
Group, known as MAG, in Quang Tri. MAG destroyed around 7,500 items in 
2009. In 2012, the group destroyed more than 17,000.

He said, “In January we went to a village where the community liaison 
team works and we found nearly 50 submunitions of where the locals said,
 sometimes about 500, 600 meters away from where they actually live, 
where they do their work in the forest.”

Ordnance clearance groups now have hotlines for residents to call when 
they find war-time munitions. Community liaison officers also go house 
to house to get information directly. This, Liebenberg said, is another 
reason why more are being reported.

Last month another group named Project Renew was called in to destroy a 
French mortar and U.S. grenade near an acacia plantation just meters 
away from a kindergarten.

Development and Public Affairs Officer Ngo Xuan Hien was at the scene. 
He said the site was well known for being contaminated by unexploded 
ordnance. “About two kilometers from here is the Quang Tri citadel which
 is very notorious for fighting in 1972 so it’s very common to see UXO 
remains scattered all over the place,” he added.

Many Vietnamese seek out the unexploded ordinance to sell the metal for 
scrap, sometimes taking great risks to illegally remove the explosives 
to sell to rock quarries or fishermen.

However, one of MAG's Senior Community Liaison officers, Le Van Minh, 
said the number of scrap metal dealers has decreased in recent years, in
 part because of the economic slowdown which has hit the construction 
industry.

Most ordinance clearing groups concentrate in Quang Tri, although there 
is some activity in nearby provinces. Awareness in other parts of the 
country is not high and the results can be fatal. At the end of last 
year two accidents claimed the lives of five children.
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