<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Voice of America<br></span></span></span><br><span style="font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/more-war-era-munitions-uncovered-in-vietnam-/1613410.html">http://www.voanews.com/content/more-war-era-munitions-uncovered-in-vietnam-/1613410.html</a></span><br><h1><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 24px;">More War-Era Munitions Uncovered in Vietnam
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</span><div class="article_txt_intro"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><div class="contentImage floatNone" style="width:640px"><div class="watermark"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://gdb.voanews.com/D8531EC2-080A-4F85-8ACC-82C98CCABE76_mw1024_n_s.jpg" rel="ibox" title="Bomb on scales at scrap yard. (VOA/M. Brown) "><img class="photo" alt="Bomb on scales at scrap yard. (VOA/M. Brown) " src="http://gdb.voanews.com/D8531EC2-080A-4F85-8ACC-82C98CCABE76_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy11_cw0.jpg" border="0"></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="imageCaption">Bomb on scales at scrap yard. (VOA/M. Brown) </span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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</div><br><div class="author"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="">Marianne Brown</span></span></div>
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March 01, 2013 <br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class="article_date"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
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                <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="dateline">QUANG TRI<span> — 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.<br>
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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.<br><br>
<div> <div style="width: 640px; height: 392px;" class="htmlPhg htmlPhgRendered"><img style="padding-top: 0px;" class="htmlPhgImage htmlPhgImageRendered" data-src="http://gdb.voanews.com/10CF9A8E-57B5-4837-84F9-19EC4A97862A_mwdynamic_mhdynamic_s.jpg" src="http://gdb.voanews.com/10CF9A8E-57B5-4837-84F9-19EC4A97862A_mw505_mh360_s.jpg" alt=""><div class="htmlPhgCaption"><span style="font-size: 13px;">A French-era mortar discovered metres away from a kindergarten. (VOA/M. Brown)
                </span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="dateline"><span><br></span></span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="dateline"><span>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</span></span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span></span></div>
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.</div></div><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
.<br>
<br>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.<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
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.”<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
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