Cambodian PM urges NATO, US allies to oppose US plan to supply cluster bombs to Ukraine

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Monday urged NATO member states and US allies to oppose the US 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 US 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 US 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 US 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.