Ukraine should shun US cluster bombs, learn from Cambodia’s ‘painful experience’: PM Hun Sen

Cluster munitions pose ‘the greatest danger’ to civilians for ‘up to a hundred years’ if used, the long-time Cambodian leader wrote on social media

He cited his country’s experience of US cluster bombs dropped on it more than half a century ago, which have left tens of thousands maimed or killed

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Ukrainian deminers view a controlled explosion during a visit to a mine field in Cambodia’s Battambang province in January. Around 20,000 Cambodians have been killed over the last four decades after stepping on landmines or unexploded ordnance. Photo AP

Published: 1:05pm, 10 Jul 2023

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose country still grapples with deadly war remnants, has urged Ukraine not to use cluster bombs, after Washington announced plans to send the weapons to Kyiv to fight Russian troops.

Humanitarian groups have strongly condemned the US decision to supply cluster munitions, which can go undetonated and potentially endanger civilians for years to come.

“It would be the greatest danger for Ukrainians for many years or up to a hundred years if cluster bombs are used in Russian-occupied areas in the territory of Ukraine,” Hun Sen tweeted on Sunday.

He cited Cambodia’s “painful experience” of US cluster munitions dropped in the early 1970s, a foreign legacy that has left tens of thousands maimed or killed.

A cloud of dust and smoke rises from a cache of unexploded ordinance detonated by deminers in Cambodia in 2004. The country’s government has vowed to clear all mines and unexploded ordnance by 2025. Photo: AFP

“It has been more than half a century. There have been no means to destroy them all yet,” Hun Sen said.