NEW INTERNATIONALIST
Kek, 28, who was injured five years ago, while digging for metal to sell, by an unexploded bomb dropped by US Air Force planes during the Vietnam War, poses in his house in the village of Kakho in Xieng Khouang province, Laos September 3, 2016 PHOTO/Reuters/Jorge Silva
US bombs still kill in Laos – even decades years after being dropped
After 580,344 bombing missions, 270 million bombs, 2 million tonnes of ordnance, a third of which never exploded – the US bombing of Laos left a legacy for years to come.
More than 40 years on, US bombs are still a major threat, with over half of Laotian provinces severely contaminated with unexploded ordnance. Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured by unexploded bombs since the war, many of them children.
The bombing of Laos took place between 1964 and 1973, and was part of a CIA-run operation to cut North Vietnamese supply routes and to defeat communist allies in the region.
With his visit to Laos between 5 and 8 September 2016, Barack Obama has become the first sitting president of the US to visit Laos, announcing new funding to help clear the country. But NGOs, including Legacies of War, have warned that it will take decades, and millions of dollars every year to complete the operation and to bring Laotians back to living a normal life.
New Internationalist for more