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The Vietnam News

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Vietnam restoring massacre site to draw tourists

HANOI - Facilities at the site of the 1968 My Lai massacre are to be renovated to attract more tourists to the area, the authorities in Vietnam's Quang Ngai province said. Mr Le Van Doi, a spokesman for the government of the central coastal province, said about US$760,000 (S$1.3 million) would be spent on the project.

It would include the construction of a two-storey museum documenting the atrocities committed by American troops and repairs to a monument to the victims, he said. 'This historical site has been damaged by natural calamities such as typhoons, so we need to restore the area. 'I hope that after the restoration, more Vietnamese and foreign tourists will come to visit,' he said.

More than 3,000 Vietnamese and international tourists have visited the area so far this year, according to the local tourism authorities. US troops butchered 504 civilians, most of them women, children and the elderly, on March 16, 1968 in My Lai village and its surrounds in the Son My commune, now known as Tinh Khe. They covered up the massacre, the darkest chapter of their involvement in Vietnam. Its eventual exposure helped turn the tide in favour of the anti-war effort in the US.

Construction on the museum in My Lai, which will replace the existing documentary centre that opened in 1992, will get under way on March 6, as will work on the monument, Mr Doi said. The project is being funded by the central government.

Agence France Presse - February 28, 2003.