PRESS RELEASE

December 27, 2006

United States Provides More Demining Equipment to Vietnam

The United States Government will turn over nearly one million dollars worth of equipment to locate and clear landmines as well as unexploded ordnance (UXO) to the Ministry of Defense’s Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal Technology (BOMICEN) on 27 December.  This will mark the eighth time in as many years that the U.S. Department of State has provided such specialized equipment to Vietnam, in order to reinforce its capacity to deal with the explosive hazards that remain after thirty years of conflict.

The United States has long been committed to assisting in the process of addressing remaining UXO/landmine problems not only in Vietnam, but globally.  Since joining the U.S. Government’s Humanitarian Mine Action Program in 2000, Vietnam has received over $37 million in U.S. Government mine action aid, most of it supporting the valuable work of various non-governmental organizations for mine and UXO surveys and clearance, mine risk education, and mine survivors assistance.  Additionally, the United States has provided numerous annual grants directly to the Government of Vietnam in the form of equipment and training that supports BOMICEN’s important and often dangerous work.  The U.S. Government, through its Embassy in Hanoi, remains committed to helping Vietnam develop its national capacity to clear all of these “hidden killers.”

Since 1999, the U.S. Department of State has donated over ten million dollars worth of equipment to support BOMICEN’s mission of clearing UXO and landmines.  Past grants to BOMICEN have included ambulances, fire trucks, buses to transport deminers, mine detectors, boats for clearing UXO in rivers, computers, heavy machinery, protective clothing, medical technology, communications sets, and diving equipment.  This year’s donation includes 181 mine detectors, twenty bomb locators, fifteen sets of individual protective equipment, three explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) suits, eighteen trauma medical kits, and replacement seals for the Mobile Explosion Containment Vessel,  donated by the U.S. Department of State to the Ministry of Defense in November 2005.  Early next year, an additional ambulance will also be donated to BOMICEN by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Much of the equipment provided to BOMICEN will be used to support another U.S. Government sponsored initiative, the Veterans for America (VFA) UXO/Landmine Impact Survey that was begun in 2004.  During Phase I of this project, over 5,000 participants in 344 communes in the heavily-bombed central provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Ha Tinh were interviewed, and 6,200 UXO/landmines were cleared.  Phase Two of this long-term project has already started and will complete the remaining parts of the original three provinces, while also expanding the survey to cover the central provinces of Nghe An and Thua Thien-Hue.

The expansion of this survey effort into additional districts and provinces under Phase II will not only provide the Government of Vietnam with the basis for working towards the development of a National Mine Action plan, but it will also provide the resources required to carry out the rapid clearance of priority UXO and landmine dangers in order to save lives and prevent grievous injuries. 

These donations represent the U.S. Government’s continuing commitment to Humanitarian Assistance around the world will measurably improve the Government of Vietnam’s ability to respond to the humanitarian needs of its people and will move Vietnam closer to the goal of eliminating UXO and landmines. 

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