German NGO to Help Central Vietnam Clean up Landmines

Germany’s Solidarity Service International (SODI) will grant over EUR340,000 to help clean up mines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue from now up to 2012. The Vice Executive Manager of SODI, Marion Gnanko, and the Vice Chairman of the provincial people’s committee, Le Truong Luu, April 20 signed a deal to continue a project to clear mines and UXOs and to reduce poverty from March 2011 to Feb 2012. The project is aimed to clear 150 hectares of land in Huong Van and Huong Van communes of Huong Tra district serving for resettlement of local residents and agricultural production. Under the scheme, two mobile teams will also be dispatched to clear mines and UXOs in the entire province, which used to be a hot spot during the Vietnam War. A guidebook on bombs and mines will also be devised for Vietnam’s technical officials. So far, SODI has donated $2 million to help clean up landmines for around 520 ha in Huong Tra and Quang Dien districts with the participations of 102,875 local people. Bombs and mines have claimed nearly 104,000 lives in Vietnam since 1975 and it caused deaths to additional 300 to 600 people annually, the UNDP said.  Vietnam needs more than $10 billion and take up to 300 years to clear up bombs and mines left from the war, said a representative of the Technology Centre for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN). (vovnews.vn April 21, baodientu.chinhphu.vn April 21)