UXOs clearance in progress

(KPL) Unexploded ordnances (UXO), totalling 128,598 items, have been cleared out of 7,000 ha of land nationwide over the past year.
Most of them were destroyed under the clearance programme conducted between February 2007 and April 2008.

The figure was reported at a meeting last Tuesday, at the International
Cooperation and Training Centre (ICTC), under the chairmanship of Deputy
Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Laoly Faiphengyoua.

Officials attending the meeting include the representatives of the United
Nations Development Programme in Laos Mr Stephan Vigie, and other 60
officials from government ministries and embassies.

The National Regulatory Authority (NRA) said the strategic plan for reducing the number of UXO victims began in 2003 and will continue until 2013 with the aim of raising awareness through education, since Laos is one of the countries affected by UXOs, particularly bombies.

Laos was heavily bombed during the Indochina War. Thirty years after the
war, UXO still pose a threat to the livelihood of people in 15 out of the 17
provinces countrywide and obstacle to the socio-economic development.
It was estimated that more than two million tonnes of UXOs were dropped by
American warplanes over the country from 1964 to 1973.
In 2007, Laos was able to clear UXOs off about 4,189.6 ha, of which 2,112 ha
are agricultural land and 88,259 items of UXO have been destroyed.
Over the past five months of this year, Laos has destroyed 40,339 items of
bombs out of 2,624.64 ha of land.