RUSSIA INVADE UKRAINE | PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA- Fifteen Ukrainian deminers are being trained by experts in Cambodia
Cambodian experts begin training Ukrainian deminers
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AP) – Fifteen Ukrainian deminers are being trained by experts in Cambodia who are among the world’s best because of experience from clearing the leftovers of nearly three decades of war.
The Ukrainian deminers are being hosted by the Cambodian Mine Action Center, a government agency that oversees the clearing of land mines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia. The weeklong programme began yesterday and is supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The demining centre’s director general Heng Ratana, said the Ukrainians will be trained by Cambodian experts at the Mine Action Technical Institute in the central province of Kampong Chhnang, visit demining sites in northwestern Battambang province and tour a museum dedicated to land mines and unexploded ordnance in Siem Reap province, home to the famous Angkor temples.
Memento Maxima Digital MarketingHe said the training will focus on mine clearing using technology including a Japanese detection device called the Advanced Landmine Imaging System.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said last June that Russia is using land mines in Ukraine “that are causing civilian casualties and suffering, as well as disrupting food production”.
“Russia is the only party to the conflict known to have used banned antipersonnel mines, while both Russia and Ukraine have used anti-vehicle mines,” it said.
Cambodia was littered with land mines and other unexploded ordnance after almost three decades of war ending in the late 1990s.
An estimated four million to six million unexploded devices remain uncleared and continue to kill people.
Since the end of the fighting, nearly 20,000 people have been killed and about 45,000 have been injured by leftover war explosives, although the average annual death toll has dropped from several thousand to less than 100.
Cambodian deminers have become among the world’s most experienced, and several thousand have been sent in the past decade under United Nations (UN) auspices to work in Africa and the Middle East.
Cambodia’s clean-up of landmine-contaminated land benefits over nine million people
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA (XINHUA) – Cambodia has cleared roughly 2,554 square kilometres of landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contaminated land in the last 30 years, benefitting more than nine million people, a senior official said yesterday.
First vice president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) Ly Thuch, made the remarks during a meeting with mine clearance operators and donors in Siem Reap province.
“With this clearance effort from 1992 to 2022, over 1.15 million anti-personnel mines, more than 26,135 anti-tank mines, and three million explosive remnants of war were found and destroyed,” he said.
“These lands have been returned to communities for productive purposes such as agriculture, resettlement, roads, schools and other social infrastructure,” he added.
Thuch said the Southeast Asian country currently needs to clear the remaining more than 700 square kilometres of land contaminated by mines and ERW by 2025.
“Throughout Cambodia, around one million people still live in fear and work in areas contaminated by mines and ERW,” he said.
“Your commitment is critically important at this stage as we consolidate our efforts and aim to achieve a mine-free Cambodia by 2025,” he added.
Cambodia is one of the countries worst-affected by landmines and ERW. An estimated four million to six million landmines and other munitions have been left over from three decades of war and internal conflicts that ended in 1998.
According to the Yale University, between 1965 and 1973, the United States dropped some 230,516 bombs on 113,716 sites in Cambodia. The CMAA said from 1979 to 2022, landmine and ERW explosions have claimed 19,818 lives and either injured or amputated 45,187 others in Cambodia.
