Laos, the most heavily bombed country in the world

By Guglielmo Gallone

“My name is Yeng-Chang Cheung-Wu. I come from Xieng Khouang Province in Laos and I work for the Mines Advisory Group. MAG is an international humanitarian organisation that clears and destroys landmines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance in areas affected by conflict. We have been working in Laos for more than thirty years to help communities live safely and build a better future. My country is still scarred by unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by a war that ended more than fifty years ago.” Yeng-Chang Cheung-Wu’s testimony to Vatican News sheds light on one of the least known chapters of the Cold War—a story marked by at least three striking paradoxes.

First, Laos is the most heavily bombed country in history relative to its population, yet its story remains largely forgotten. Second, the conflict was never officially declared. Unable to wage war openly against a country recognised as neutral, the United States carried out a massive bombing campaign that became known as the “Secret War”. The third paradox is its enduring legacy: millions of cluster munitions failed to explode. An estimated 80 million unexploded bomblets are still scattered across the country, and in 2024 alone unexploded ordnance caused 48 casualties, a reminder that, for many Laotians, the war has never truly ended.

The history of the “Secret War”

To understand this story, it is necessary to go back to 1954, when the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu at the hands of the Viet Minh ended nearly a century of colonial rule in Indochina. The Geneva Accords recognised the independence of Laos and Cambodia and declared them as neutral states, while Vietnam was temporarily divided along the 17th parallel: the communist North under Ho Chi Minh and the U.S.-backed South, pending elections that were never held.

The newly independent Laos, however, faced two challenges from the outset. A civil war pitted the royal government against the communist Pathet Lao, backed by North Vietnam. At the same time, its geography made the country strategically vital. Running through the forested Annamite Mountains was much of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the logistical network used by Hanoi to move troops, weapons and supplies into South Vietnam. Although parts of the trail also crossed Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos became its principal corridor, turning a formally neutral country into a key battlefield of the Cold War.

For years, the extent of U.S. involvement remained largely hidden. Documents declassified by the National Security Archive in 2008 revealed that personnel working under CIA contracts took part in covert air operations and that, during the 1959 Laos crisis, the U.S. Air Force even considered the possible use of nuclear weapons. President John F. Kennedy initially sought a diplomatic solution, partly because U.S. covert resources were heavily committed elsewhere – notably to preparations for the Bay of Pigs invasion, in Cuba – and partly to avoid widening the Cold War confrontation. His efforts culminated in the 1962 Geneva Agreement reaffirming Laos’ neutrality.

The agreement, however, quickly unravelled. North Vietnamese forces remained in Laos and, as the Vietnam War escalated, Washington concluded that disrupting the Ho Chi Minh Trail had become essential. On 14 December 1964, the United States launched Operation Barrel Roll, an undeclared bombing campaign that would continue for almost a decade. At the same time, the CIA organised and financed a secret army composed largely of Hmong fighters under General Vang Pao to combat communist forces on the ground.

Between 1964 and 1973, U.S. aircraft flew around 580,000 sorties over Laos and dropped more than two million tonnes of bombs – an average of one bombing mission every eight minutes, day and night, for nine consecutive years. Declassified records (more at Victor B. Anthony, Richard R. Sexton, «The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia: The War in Northern Laos, 1954–1973», Center for Air Force History, 1993) also show that during the 1965 Christmas bombing pause over North Vietnam, many U.S. air missions were simply redirected to Laos. This was the Secret War: a conflict fought in the shadows of the Vietnam War, whose consequences continue to shape the lives of millions of Laotians today.

Clearing a country still at war with its past

More than fifty years after the end of the war, explosive ordnance disposal teams continue to clear farmland, forests and villages across Laos. Craig Guwuriro, Programme Manager for HALO Trust in Laos, told Vatican News that the organisation has been working in Savannakhet Province since 2012. “Even today, people farm land beneath which unexploded bombs may still be buried. This affects agriculture, economic development and the everyday safety of entire communities. Although casualties have declined significantly in recent years, people are still being killed and injured.”

For HALO, clearance is only part of the mission. “Some items of unexploded ordnance, particularly cluster munition bomblets, can look harmless. That is why we also work with local communities, teaching people how to recognise the danger and report it safely.” During a visit to Vilabouly District last May, Guwuriro saw clearance teams preparing land for farming and livestock. “In some locations, our teams found as many as one hundred unexploded items in a single day. Every one of them has to be located, excavated and safely destroyed before the land can be returned to the community.” He adds that this work is made possible by the support of international partners, enabling families to reclaim their land and build more secure livelihoods.

Listen to the interview with Yeng-Chang Cheung-Wu of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG)

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The same mission drives the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). “Alongside clearance operations, we provide risk education to help communities live safely with the threat of UXO and respond whenever dangerous items are reported,” says Yeng-Chang Cheung-Wu. “The impact is tangible. Once land has been cleared, families can farm again, communities can build schools and roads, and children can play without fear. I come from Xieng Khouang Province, one of the areas most heavily contaminated by unexploded ordnance, and I have seen firsthand the difference this work makes. Every item we remove is one less threat to a family. Every piece of land we clear gives communities greater safety, confidence and hope.”

Voices from the Plain of Jars

“One of the many anomalies of the Indochina War is that those who suffered the most have also been the least heard.” So begins Voices from the Plain of Jars, the book in which American aid worker Fred Branfman brought the testimony of Lao villagers who survived the bombing to the attention of the world. Branfman recalls arriving at That Luang Temple in Vientiane in September 1969, where the floor was crowded with hundreds of displaced people. Sitting beside a farmer, he asked whether he had witnessed the bombing. The man bent down, traced the letter “L” in the dust with his finger, and pointed towards a shelter carved into the mountainside. There, he said, he and his family had lived for months, leaving only at night to look for food and tend their fields. Then came the words Branfman would never forget: “We lived like animals.” And then another sentence: “There wasn’t a night when we thought we’d still be alive by morning, nor a morning when we thought we’d still be alive by nightfall.”