9-7-2023 (PHNOM PENH) Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has urged Ukraine not to use cluster bombs, citing his country’s “painful experience” with the weapons dropped by the US during the Vietnam War. Hun Sen’s appeal came after the United States announced its plans to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to fight Russian troops. Humanitarian groups have condemned the US decision, as the unexploded bombs can potentially harm civilians for years to come. Hun Sen warned that the use of cluster bombs in Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine could pose a danger to the country for many years, even up to a hundred years.
Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with around 20,000 Cambodians killed over the last four decades after stepping on landmines or unexploded ordnance. The effects of the US bombing campaign during the Vietnam War and the conflict that followed have long been felt in the country. Hun Sen emphasized that even after more than half a century, there are still no means to destroy all the unexploded bombs.
“As my pity for the Ukrainian people, I appeal to the US president as the supplier and the Ukrainian president as the recipient not to use cluster bombs in the war because the real victims will be Ukrainians,” Hun Sen said.
The United States dropped millions of bombs on Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s in an attempt to hit communist bases. The Cambodian government has vowed to clear all mines and unexploded ordnance by 2025, and clearance work continues to this day. In January, a group of Ukrainian deminers visited Cambodian minefields to learn from the country’s decades of bitter experience.
