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Cluster Munition Monitor 2012
areas, farmland, pasture, rivers and streams, on hillsides, in desert areas, in and around former military barracks,
on roads, in minefields, and in ammunition storage areas. 53
• Vietnam is contaminated as a result of an estimated 413,130 tons (4.1 million kg) of submunitions used by
the US in 1965–1973. 54 Cluster munitions were used in 55 provinces and cities, including Haiphong, Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, and Vinh. Substantial amounts of cluster munitions were abandoned by the US military,
notably at or around old US air bases, including eight underground bunkers found in 2009, one of them
covering an area of 4,000m2 and containing some 25 tons of munitions. 55
In 2012, there were credible reports, but as yet unconfirmed, of new use of cluster munitions in Sudan and Syria.
This included photographs of cluster munition remnants. Little is known about the precise extent of cluster munition
contamination in other non-signatories: Azerbaijan, Georgia (South Ossetia), Russia (Chechnya), and Tajikistan.
Other areas
• Kosovo is affected by remnants of cluster munitions used by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia armed forces
in 1998–1999 and by the 1999 NATO air campaign. After a UN coordinated demining operation from June
1999 to December 2001 it was reported that “the problems associated with landmines, cluster munitions and
other items of unexploded ordnance in Kosovo have been virtually eliminated.” 56 However, further investigation
subsequently revealed considerably more contamination. 57 In March 2011, the most recent date for which
information is available, the Kosovo Mine Action Centre reported 48 areas with confirmed contamination by
unexploded submunitions and a further six suspected areas. 58
• In Nagorno-Karabakh, HALO Trust has reported a significant problem with cluster munition remnants,
particularly in the Askeran and Martakert regions. Large quantities of air-dropped cluster munitions were
used in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict over a six-year period. Cluster munition sites run through villages and
contaminate gardens and prime agricultural land. HALO initially conducted emergency surface clearance of
cluster munition remnants, but in 2008 concluded there was also a significant subsurface threat and began
to re-survey cluster munition strike sites. Subsurface clearance has consistently resulted in clearing more
area than originally estimated to be contaminated and new surveys of previously unknown cluster munition
strikes have added to the total SHA. 59 As of end July 2012, an estimated area of 70.9km 2 required battle area
clearance (BAC). This is an increase on the figure of 69.5km 2 in March 2011, despite clearance of 8.5km 2 in
2011. 60
• Western Sahara has a significant but swiftly decreasing problem with cluster munition remnants, although
previously unknown contaminated areas have continued to be identified, as recently as June 2012. 61 As of
March 2011, a total of 85 cluster munition strike sites remained to be cleared from an estimated area of
32.74km 2 . 62 By mid-June 2012, following further clearance by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV, formerly
Landmine Action), a total of 23 cluster munition strike sites remained to be cleared across an estimated area
of 3.88km 2 . 63 A survery managed by Landmine Action which concluded at the end of 2008 determined that
among the range of explosive ordnance contaminating Western Sahara, unexploded submunitions posed the
greatest threat to people and animals. 64 Western Sahara is expected to be cleared of known cluster munition
remnants outside the buffer zone with the Moroccan berm (sand wall) by the end of 2012.
Clearance of Cluster Munition Remnants
Reporting by states and operators on clearance of unexploded submunitions is incomplete and of widely varying quality.
Based on available reporting and information gathered directly from programs, in 2011 at least 52,845 unexploded
submunitions were destroyed during clearance operations of some 55km 2 of land contaminated with cluster munitions in
10 states and two other areas, as detailed in the table below. The bulk of the clearance in 2011 was reported in Lao PDR
and may include a significant quantity of BAC not directly concerned with destruction of cluster munition remnants.
53
The locations are based on a review of cluster munition sites in the UN Mine Action Office database by the Monitor.
54
Vietnam’s Military Engineering Command has recorded finding 15 types of US-made submunitions. “Vietnam mine/ERW (including cluster
munitions) contamination, impacts and clearance requirements,” Presentation by Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, People’s Army of Vietnam, in
Geneva, 30 June 2011.
55
Interview with Sr. Col. Phan Duc Tuan, People’s Army of Vietnam, in Geneva, 30 June 2011.
56
“UNMIK Mine Action Programme Annual Report – 2001,” Mine Action Coordination Cell, Pristina, undated but 2002, p. 1.
57
HALO Trust, “Failing the Kosovars: The Hidden Impact and Threat from ERW,” 15 December 2006, p. 1.
58
Email from Ahmet Sallova, Ministry of the Kosovo Security Force, 3 March 2011.
59
Email from Andrew Moore, HALO, 28 April 2010.
60
Ibid., 9 March 2011 and 31 July 2012.
61
Emails from Karl Greenwood, Chief of Operations, AOAV/Mechem Western Sahara programme, AOAV, 20 June and 18 July 2012.
62
Email from Ginevra Cucinotta, Program Officer, Mine Action Coordination Center, UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
(MINURSO MACC), 25 March 2011.
63
Email from Karl Greenwood, AOAV, 18 June 2012.
64
Email from Melissa Fuerth, Operations Officer, Landmine Action, 20 February 2009.
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