US embassy cable - 04HANOI1442

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 001442 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PACOM FOR FPA 
 
STATE FOR PM/WRA 
 
DOD FOR OSD/ISA LEW STERN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MASS, PREL, PGOV, EAID, VM 
SUBJECT: U.S. HUMANITARIAN DEMINING EFFORTS IN VIETNAM 
HAVING AN IMPACT 
 
Ref: Hanoi 567 
 
1. (U) Summary:  The U.S.-funded VVAF survey project is 
underway, though it has also lost its project manager and 
will not be complete by September 30.  U.S.-funded demining- 
related NGOs are operating successfully in Quang Binh and 
Quang Tri provinces and have generated goodwill towards the 
U.S.  The demining community supports the landmine/UXO 
impact survey program.  Provincial Army demining units are 
grateful for U.S. assistance and would like to see more, if 
possible.  End Summary. 
 
VVAF SURVEY PROJECT: 
-------------------- 
 
2. (U) Guy Rhodes, head of the U.S.-funded Vietnam Veterans 
of America Foundation UXO impact survey project (reftel) has 
left the organization, he confirmed in a meeting with poloff 
May 11.  Alexander Reitveld, country representative for VVAF 
in Vietnam, has assured post the project continues to 
proceed.  The survey staff is now fully trained, the systems 
are in place, and the manual is complete, he noted.  Rhodes 
said the project staff is now in the field doing a pilot 
test of the survey protocol and systems, and so far 
everything is running smoothly.  The survey itself is 
scheduled to begin in late May, Rhodes said. 
 
3. (U) Rhodes' resignation will not affect the project, 
Reitveld said.  Rhodes said he will still act in an advisory 
capacity as necessary, and Reitveld will handle the 
political side, including contact with the Ministry of 
Defense and the Vietnamese mine clearance agency, BOMICO. 
Michael Schenkman will continue handling the database, 
mapping and technical side, Reitveld said, and VVAF will 
hire a temporary person to do technical verification and 
evaluations in the field for one week a month. 
 
4. (U) Reitveld, in a May 19 conversation with DAO, 
confirmed that the survey will not/not be complete by 
September 30, 2004.  To complete, the survey would need to 
run until the end of February 2005, at an additional cost of 
USD 278,000.  Reitveld stated that if there were additional 
delays or costs beyond February 2005, HQ VVAF would ensure 
the completion of the project at its own expense. 
 
U.S. DEMINING ACTIVITIES HAVING AN IMPACT 
----------------------------------------- 
 
5. (U) April 19-20, Poloff had discussions with Landmine 
Survivors Network (LSN) in Quang Binh province and with Mine 
Action Group (MAG) in Quang Tri.  Poloff also discussed 
demining and UXO clearance with provincial political and 
military officials.  The Vietnamese officials and the NGOs 
were in agreement that U.S. assistance in these highly 
affected provinces has been valuable and successful and 
urged it to continue. 
 
LSN 
--- 
 
6. (U) According to Landmine Survivors Network Coordinator 
Nguyen Hoa Hoc in Dong Hoi town, Quang Binh province, LSN 
has been operating in Quang Binh since February 2003 with a 
budget of USD 164,000.  LSN uses that money to help 
rehabilitate disabled residents of six communes in Quang 
Binh.  Hoc said that 80 percent of disabled people - mostly 
amputees - in the six project communes are victims of the 
war or of UXO.  In general, Hoc noted, Quang Binh had a 
smaller number of UXO victims than Quang Tri.  In 2003 in 
Quang Binh there were 30 UXO incidents, including 9 
fatalities.  Most of the victims were either children doing 
agricultural tasks such as tending water buffalo or farmers 
who built fires that detonated buried UXO, he said. 
 
7. (U) Attitudes towards the U.S. have changed in Quang Binh 
in the last 5-7 years, he said.  Previously, the U.S. was 
the target of a great deal of hard feelings, Hoc stated. 
Since then, however, "increased openness" and "improved 
relations", as well as the beginning of projects such as the 
LSN project and MAG's clearance activities, had changed 
peoples' minds, he said.  Hoc singled out MAG for particular 
praise, saying MAG had "cleared so much area, and freed so 
much land for development". 
 
QUANG BINH PROVINCIAL OFFICIALS 
------------------------------- 
 
8. (U) It was "vital" that MAG continued its work to open up 
land for development and use, said Colonel Phu Van Te of the 
Quang Binh Provincial Military Command in a meeting with 
Poloff on April 20.  MAG also played a key role in 
coordinating district military and provincial military 
engineering teams, Te said.  According to Hoc of LSN, MAG is 
also the main organization in the province for local-level 
UXO problems.  When a farmer finds UXO, he contacts his 
district-level security forces, or the fire brigade, who 
contacts the provincial military, which either sends a team 
to clear the object or asks MAG to do it, Hoc and Te both 
said.  Sometimes the province (or MAG) will send someone to 
cordon off the area until more is found so that the 
clearance teams can clear several sites in one area and thus 
save some time and transportation costs, Te acknowledged. 
Te said the longest wait for that service was about three 
days, and that the Provincial engineers had responded five 
times already in April.  That unit's first priority is 
dealing with reported problems, and second is infrastructure 
projects, he noted. 
 
MAG: SUPPORT THE VVAF SURVEY 
---------------------------- 
 
9. (U) Nick Proudman, Program Manager of MAG in Quang Tri 
province said in a meeting with Poloff April 20 that MAG has 
one 12-man mobile team in Quang Binh (out of four total 
teams) with a province-wide mandate.  That team received its 
taskings from the Provincial army, he said, and does "some" 
emergency clearance as necessary.  He agreed with Col. Te 
that provincial teams doing emergency clearance are usually 
able to get to it within three days, assuming they are 
compensated for their gas and other daily expenses, and that 
the team is available.  However, he acknowledged, Provincial 
army teams are "heavily tied up" with commercial clearance. 
MAG also had five twelve-man teams operating in Quang Tri 
doing area clearance in cooperation with the Provincial 
Government of Quang Tri as well as emergency clearance as 
needed, Proudman said.  Proudman encouraged the USG to 
ensure that the VVAF survey was completed in Quang Tri.  The 
survey, Proudman said, would enable NGOs like MAG, along 
with Provincial authorities, to make informed decisions 
about where to concentrate their clearance resources.  The 
potential for resource savings was "huge", Proudman said, 
adding that occasionally MAG found itself wasting 
significant time and resources "clearing" a priority area 
that turned out to be only very lightly contaminated with 
UXO.  The VVAF survey project would eliminate that kind of 
waste, Proudman said, and result in "major" cost and time 
savings to the organizations engaged in clearance. 
 
10. (U) The political leadership of Quang Binh and Quang Tri 
both praised U.S. demining/UXO clearance efforts.  Vice- 
Chairman of the Quang Binh People's Committee Dr. Nguyen Van 
Vinh told poloff April 20 that "work such as LSN and the 
VVAF survey project helps us upgrade and strengthen our 
relationship with the U.S. and overcome the consequences of 
war."  He noted that the Province intended to contribute 
staff to the VVAF survey project.  Director Hoang Dang Mai 
of the Quang Tri Department of Foreign Affairs also praised 
the work of U.S. NGOs (such as Peace Trees, a group that 
engages in Mine Risk Education (MRE) programs, environmental 
restoration, microcredit lending, and UXO clearance 
activities) and USG-funded clearance work by BOMICO and 
foreign NGOs such MAG. 
 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE NEEDS 
-------------------------- 
 
10. (U) Military clearance experts in both Quang Binh and 
Quang Tri said they appreciated U.S. assistance in the 
provision of equipment but noted they could always use more. 
Col. Te of Quang Binh said the province had one team of 
deminers using a TM88 Chinese-made metal detector for 
clearance at a depth of up to 50 cm.  To clear areas to a 
depth greater than 50 cm, his team used G872 bomb detectors, 
he said, and in some cases they were given access to Vallon 
bomb detectors by BOMICO.  Te had a varied list of equipment 
needs he asked the U.S. help him meet, all related to 
detection and clearance of UXO. 
 
11. (U) In Quang Tri, the deputy commander of the provincial 
demining unit noted that his unit had detailed 10 engineers 
to Peace Trees, and maintained its own clearance unit.  The 
Quang Tri Provincial Military Command had specialized 
clearance teams and non-specialized teams who were capable 
of conducting clearance activities if absolutely necessary, 
he said.  The Quang Tri teams were in need of assistance in 
repairing broken equipment, he added. 
 
12. (U) Comment: These recent discussions with various 
stakeholders in the demining/UXO scene in Vietnam revealed 
three significant issues we had not understood clearly 
before.  First, the "clearance community" (meaning those 
organizations involved in actually clearing mines and UXO) 
is highly supportive of the U.S.-funded VVAF survey project 
in Quang Tri as a way for them to focus their efforts where 
they are most needed, and thus save money and increase 
effectiveness.  Second, the U.S. effort to support UXO 
clearance in the highly contaminated areas of Quang Binh and 
Quang Tri is both recognized and appreciated, by average 
citizens as well as the political leadership.  And third, 
the "clearance community" is currently sufficiently large to 
handle emergency clearance needs as they come up, in a 
timely manner.  Through continued engagement with the 
Ministry of Defense, the governments in highly affected 
areas, and the demining NGO community, we can refine our own 
approach to maximize the humanitarian benefits to the 
Vietnamese people and the impact on our bilateral 
relationship. 
BURGHARDT