Last July, a Lao miner found an unexploded bomb at a mine site in Southern Laos. When he stood next to it, the bomb was taller than he was. Despite the fact that the bomb was at least 50 years old, it was presumably still live, capable of causing terrible injury, death and destruction.
Laos exemplifies the premise that war doesn’t stop when the cameras are switched off and the international agreements are signed. Some would say it stands as a powerful example of the collateral damage wrought by America’s destructive adventurism.
UXO Lao SEOD technition preparing UXO for destruction, 2007. (Image: Steffen Peter, Wikimedia Commons)
Laos (officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic since 1975) shares a border with Vietnam and thus became a casualty of US anti-communist operations in south-east Asia between 1964 and 1973. While officially neutral in the Vietnam War, Laos was the target of massive US aerial bombardment aimed at destroying communist supply lines into Vietnam and disrupting communist support of anti-government forces in Laos.
By the time the last US bombs had fallen in 1973, Laos had attained the dubious title as the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita. An estimated 270 million bombs were dropped on this small country, 80 million of which remain unexploded (known as unexploded ordnance: UXO).
The kingdom of Laos, which was abolished in 1975, traced its royal lineage and cultural identity to the mid-14th century. The country’s history abounds with conflict and warfare. It was a French colony from the late 19th century until the end of the First Indochina War in 1954, when it was granted independence. It was then administered by a mish-mash coalition of extremist and centralist factions which proved to be too unstable in the geopolitical climate of the time.
By the early 1960s, with the deteriorating political situation in Southeast Asia posing a serious risk to US foreign policy, the major players to emerge in the conflict were the US-supported right-wing government forces and the left-wing Pathet Lao, the communist organisation backed by North Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh, the charismatic Vietnamese leader, mobilised the north of the nation against the United States while the South, reluctantly some would say, stayed under the leadership of President Diem. Diem’s corrupt leadership may have been one reason for the increasing popularity of the Viet Cong (National Liberation Front – NLF) and Ho Chi Minh.
Vietnam and Laos share a long and porous