The U.S. State Department will provide $10 million in aid to help Vietnam disarm unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the Vietnam War in the central province of Quang Tri, Vietnamese media reported. The UK-based Mine Advisory Group (MAG) would provide the loan to help the province carry out an unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance project between 2015 and 2017. Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by MAG and Quang Tri authorities, the project aims to reduce the risks of injuries caused by UXO while clearing contaminated areas and improving local livelihoods. The funding was pledged to be granted to Vietnam during the visit to Quang Tri in early March by Rose Gottemoeller, under secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Quang Tri, which has some 391,500 hectares of land contaminated due to UXOs or 83% of its land, was the first locality in Vietnam to receive global support in defusing bombs and mines. Quang Tri, one of the hardest-hit localities by war-left consequences after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, reports the number of bomb and mine accidents at 127 in the 2008-2014 period, compared to 456 in 2000-2007. The U.S. army used more than 15 million tons of UXO in Vietnam in the war and 10% of them are unexploded and scattered everywhere. Domestic and foreign experts said that Vietnam needs 300 years more to remove all bombs and mines. Landmines and dioxin remain a thorny issue preventing the further development of the bilateral ties despite efforts to overcome the consequences that killed and caused injury to more than 100,000 Vietnamese people since the end of the Vietnam War. (Thanh Nien – Young People May 19, ww.shanghaidaily.com May 18)
