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.
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