Cambodian PM Urges NATO, U.S. Allies to Oppose U.S. Plan to Supply Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at the closing ceremony of the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 13, 2022. Xinhua/Zhu Wei
- By Xinhua News Agency
- July 11, 2023 10:55 AM
PHNOM PENH -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday urged NATO member states and U.S. allies to oppose the U.S. plan to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.
"As the head of the royal government of Cambodia, I would like to continue to call on NATO member states and some U.S. allies such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and Canada, all of which are signatories to the Convention on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions, to take responsibility and participate in preventing U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President from using this deadly weapon," he tweeted.
The United States announced on Friday the decision to transfer to Ukraine cluster munitions, which are banned by an international convention ratified by 123 countries.
Hun Sen said on Sunday that it will be "the worst danger" for the Ukrainians for decades or even centuries if those cluster bombs are used, adding that Cambodia still underwent pain from U.S. cluster munitions dropped in the Southeast Asian country more than half a century ago.
According to Yale University, between 1965 and 1973, the United States dropped some 230,516 bombs on 113,716 sites in Cambodia.
