Laos unexploded ordnance legacy

[tigerryan]

It would be nice to great to get past the “blame “ issues for the UXO issues in Lao and help the people there and especially the children but first a couple things that I just cant square with the issue.

1. What appears to me to be a lack of honest data as it relates to the type of munitions dropped in LAO by the US during the war. The “anti bomb anti war anti CBU crowd” would have you believe that the US dropped all kinds of evil toy looking munitions on Lao. I just don’t find that to be represented in my recent experience in the area, my conversations with pilots and ground crews or from my efforts to find anything supportive of it on the net. The CBU’s used be the US during that time looked to me to be standard blu 24/36 bomblets. Round and uninteresting and now very rusted balls the size of a grapefruit. Many evil looking cluster bombs have been developed by evil scientist and posted on the web and paraded around by anti war zealots but to say that the US deployed toy looking bombs for the purpose of maiming children is just is not represented in fact in my opinion but more importantly changes the issue to a personal attack on the guys who dropped them.

2. The scrap steel business could have been shut down in Vietnam and Lao thirty years ago and it would have saved untold lives but the desires of the Governments to sell scrap military residue and create a market for UXO and allow the untrained farmer to participate for financial gain is inconceivable and in my opinion can not coexist with clearance efforts as the clearence efforts by there nature destroy the commodity that the government has created by the scrap market.

3. The Lao gov cannot be allowed to profit, shakedown or overly control the clearance efforts. I have no specific knowledge of any of this but I can only imagine how it would work in actuality. It seems to me for a US organization to get permission to clear an area would be akin to boiling the ocean diplomatically. I have found the people at the US embassy to be awesome but it seems pretty clear to me that the Lao gov still is not at the point of reconciliation and showing a US citizen open arms (as it relates to individuals that served in the war). The Lao gov is still in fully in control of who they will allow to help them. On the other hand I have found the average Laotian to be warm and the open.
4. The Clearance effort in Lao cannot be the parade ground and controlled by political and war anti cbu organizations if they want US support I have no evidence of this it just seems obvious that you cant bite and slander the hand that feeds you.
5. I personally would support a private clearance organization that was getting a good bang for the buck in Lao and I don’t think they would have problems getting funding from a multitude of sources including the US GOV. I strongly believe that the Lao should be clearing the country with their own people but via private organizations.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Thank you Mr. Helm for that very useful information.

Souvanna Phouma is a tragic figure a little bit similar to Sihanouk although he was not the showman like the former Cambodian ruler. He was more serious but faced the same difficult problems, and unlike Sihanouk, he did not have the same support owing to the factionalism of the elite families in Laos.

Most of the information I have about Souvanna Phouma and his brothers has been gleaned from a history of Laos by Martin Stuart-Fox, and A short history of Laos by an author whose name I forget.

And best wishes to you and your family in the coming year too.

[Astana]

Yes.... Your right! There was no biographical study of Souvanna Phouma, probably the most important Lao political figure of his times. Such a great area for study...

His importance, however, came through in several excellent studies dealing with various crises in which he was a participant. The best of them was Anatomy of a Crisis: The Laotian Crisis of 1960-1969, the last book by the late Bernard B. Fall, edited and completed by Roger M. Smith (1969).

Another excellent book on the same subject was Arthur J. Dommen, Conflict in Laos (1964). An account by a Laotian who himself figured prominently in events in his country was Sisouk Na Champassak, Storm over Laos (1961). An update of the narrative begun in the more specific studies of the major crises in the start of the 1960s was Hugh Toye, Laos: Buffer State or Battleground (1968).

See also Perry Stieglitz, In a Little Kingdom: The Tragedy of Laos, 1960-1980 (M.E. Sharpe, 1990); William Bouarouy, The Roots of the Conflicts in Indochina: With Chronology of Laos History, & Major Successive Political Events in Laos from 1316 Through 1975 (Asian-Americans Research Center & Publishing Agency, 1992); and Timothy Castle, At War in the Shadow of Vietnam: United States Military Aid to the Royal Lao Government, 1955-1975 (Columbia University Press, 1995).

[rufus]

"I personally would support a private clearance organization that was getting a good bang for the buck in Lao and I don’t think they would have problems getting funding from a multitude of sources including the US GOV. I strongly believe that the Lao should be clearing the country with their own people but via private organizations."

Guess you haven't heard of MAG?

"I just don’t find that to be represented in my recent experience in the area, my conversations with pilots and ground crews or from my efforts to find anything supportive of it on the net."

Guess you haven't worked alongside bomb disposal experts in Sepon or Xieng Khouan.

[Astana]

Want to contribute? Anyt of these organisations would readily receive your donation. See the contact details at the end of this post:

2007/8 International Mine Action Funding to Lao PDR: Monetary Donor Implementing Agencies/Organizations
Project Details and Amount

US
From the Department of State, USAID, Leahy Fund and Department of Defense
$2,905,000

Japan
MAG, UXO Lao, JMAS
EOD, UXO clearance
$2,691,100 (Â¥316,599,975)

Australia
CARE Australia, COPE, FSD, HI, MAG, UXO Lao, NRA
VA, integrated mine action, UXO clearance and threat reduction
$2,643,165 (A$3,150,000)

Ireland
MAG
Integrated mine clearance
$1,371,100 (€1,000,000)

UK
MAG, UXO Lao
Mine/UXO clearance
$1,117,677 (558,280)

Germany
UNDP
UXO clearance
$606,700 (€442,491)

Luxembourg
HI Luxembourg
Mine/UXO clearance
$490,193 (€357,518)

Switzerland
UNDP
Mine action and development
$416,700 (CHF500,000)

Total
$12,241,635 (€8,928,331)

UNDP reported allocating $620,000 in funds for Lao PDR in 2007, consisting of $350,000 for UXO Lao and $270,000 for the NRA. UNICEF Lao PDR reported receiving $150,310 in funding for RE in 2007, including funds from the Australian National Committee for UNICEF, Sweden, the US and the United Kingdom.

The UXO Lao budget for 2007 was $5,818,979, including personnel, operating costs, equipment, and UNDP administrative costs.[160] As of April 2007, UXO Lao reported secured funding of $5.2 million for 2007 and 2008, and pledges of an additional $2.1 million for the same period. Government donors included Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.


Landmine Monitor Contacts

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For general inquiries, or if you wish to get in touch with one of the contacts below, please email lm@icbl.org and indicate in the subject line who your email should be directed to. The individual email addresses are not provided on this website in order to prevent spamming (please read the ICBL Spam Policy).

Mines Action Canada
Paul Hannon
Jackie Hansen
1 Nicholas Street, Suite 1502
Ottawa ON K1N 7B7, CANADA
Tel. +1-613-241-3777
Fax. +1-613-244-3410
www.minesactioncanada.org

Mines Action Canada (MAC) is the lead agency for the Landmine Monitor initiative and is responsible for the coordination and management of research, editing and production of all research products.

Handicap International
Stan Brabant
Rue de Spastraat 67
B-1000 Brussels, BELGIUM
Tel. +32-2-286-50-59
Fax. +32-2-230-60-30
www.handicapinternational.be

Human Rights Watch
Steve Goose
1630 Connnecticut Ave, Suite 500
Washington DC 20009, USA
Tel: +1-202-612-4351
Fax: +1-202-612-4333
www.hrw.org

Norwegian People's Aid
Stuart Maslen
France
www.npaid.org

[laphanphon]

Want to contribute

neither agree or disagree with opinions of removal, but charities themselves rub me the wrong way. too much of donations go to administration cost. not the cause. it's one money making business. with the cost of labor, and the funds already donated/contributed, rightly given to, since they did bomb the place, how much over how many years is actually needed. if concentrated on just the farmlands, i'd think they be done now. labor/training, can't be that much. just thoughts to ponder.

[tigerryan]

I have heard of MAC and others and I am aware of their program's in Lao. I am also aware of the cost of success . I did the quick math on MAG and it appears to me that its costing about 10,000.US per item recovered. I want to donate to an organization that can realistically mitigate the problem and "get past the politics" not a political action group that want's to hamstring the current US military. I am well aware of the options available to fund organizations involved in LAO's UXO efforts and it seems to me that MAC has a tougher time getting over the politics of the issue then I do. Given my political disposition do you think I would donate to Mine action Canada or human rights watch just go to the site and tell me what you think?