米国に地雷撤去の援助を求める、ラオスの人々

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Two young Laotians — one a bomb disposal technician, the other the victim of an accidental explosion — arrived Friday on the anniversary of the end of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and its far-less publicized bombing of neighboring Laos. The U.S. dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos over a nine-year period up to 1973 — more than on Germany and Japan during World War II.

Manixia Thor, 25, works on an all-female team that clears bombs and other explosives from villages and farm land in her native province of Xieng Khouang, one of the worst-hit areas of the country. Joining her on the speaking tour is Thoummy Silamphan, 26, who lost his left hand to a cluster bomb at age 8 as he dug for bamboo shoots to put in soup. He’s from a poor farming family in the same province and counsels victims of ordnance accidents that still maim dozens of Lao each year.

Experts estimate that about 30 percent of the cluster bombs failed to explode after they were dropped from high-flying aircraft, as the U.S. attempted to crush communist forces in Laos and interdict the Vietcong supply line known as the Ho Chi Minh trail. Large swaths of northern Laos and its eastern border with Vietnam remain contaminated.

地雷撤去専門家と、不発弾被害者の二人のラオス人の若者が、ベトナム戦争終結記念日に訪米した。米国は1973年までの9年間に、第2次大戦時のドイツや日本よりも多くの、200万トンもの爆弾をラオスに投下した。25歳のManixia Thor氏は、生まれ故郷のXieng Khouang州で、女性ばかりのチームで村や田畑から不発弾を取り除く作業をしている。同行しているのは、26歳のThoummy Silamphan氏で、スープに入れる筍掘りをしていた8歳の時に左手を失った。彼は同じ州の貧しい農家の出身で、毎年な十人もの被害者の出るラオスで、カウンセリングを行っている。専門家の推定によると、米国がホー・チミン路で知られるベトコンの補給路を断ち、ラオスの共産勢力をつぶすために行った高い位置からの爆撃で、30%ほどのクラスター爆弾が不発だったという。ラオス北部やベトナムとの東国境付近の多くが危険な状態だ。