PHNOM PENH: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has witnessed the devastating effects of war remnants in his own country, called on Ukraine on Sunday to refrain from using cluster bombs after the United States (US) announced its plans to supply such weapons to Kyiv in its conflict against Russian troops.
The decision by the US to provide cluster munitions has drawn strong criticism from humanitarian groups due to the potential long-term dangers they pose to civilians, as unexploded submunitions can continue to pose a threat for years after deployment. Hun Sen expressed concern that the use of cluster bombs in Russian-occupied areas within Ukraine’s territory would create a grave danger for Ukrainians, drawing on Cambodia’s own painful experience with US cluster bombs dropped during the early 1970s.
The remnants of these weapons continue to maim or kill tens of thousands in Cambodia, even after more than half a century. “As a nation that has hugely suffered from cluster munitions, I appeal to the United States president as the supplier and Ukraine’s president as the recipient not to use these bombs in the war, as the real victims will be Ukrainians,” Hun Sen tweeted.
US Dropped Cluster Bombs on Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
While Washington stated that it received assurances from Kyiv about minimizing the risk to civilians, US President Joe Biden acknowledged that supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions was a challenging decision. During the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, the United States dropped millions of bombs on Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
As a result, Cambodia remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with around 20,000 Cambodians having been killed or injured by landmines or unexploded ordnance over the past four decades. Cambodia has been actively working on mine clearance efforts, aiming to eliminate all mines and unexploded ordnance by 2025. In January, a group of Ukrainian deminers visited Cambodian minefields to learn from their experiences.
Cluster munitions are explosive weapons that release smaller submunitions when deployed from the air or ground. These submunitions, commonly found in cluster bombs, are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicles.
