CMAC still lacks funding to clear UXO, says officials. Supplied
Despite a $2 million US government donation to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), it still lacks funds to clear unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the Kingdom, said senior minister Ly Thuch.
Thuch, the first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), was speaking at the International Forum for Mine Awareness and Aid in the De-Mining Sector to promote the awareness of UXO, which is also known as explosive remnants of war (ERW).
International Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action Day was marked in Phnom Penh on Thursday in an event hosted by the Asean Regional Mine Action Centre (Armac), with funding from the governments of Norway, Thailand and Ireland, and the Clearing for Results Project.
The event, which drew 400 participants, including 32 sponsored university students from across the region, was organised by Armac and held at the Cambodia-Korea Cooperation Centre (CKCC) in Phnom Penh.
Ly Thuch said plans for clearing mines and UXO had been laid out by the government but still faced challenges, such as inadequate funding and a lack of personnel, with some of the current 2,500 mining officers ageing and others unable to work due to health conditions.
Being a dangerous job, working in the sector required physical and mental strength, he said.
He said CMAC was in discussions with Hun Manet, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and commander of the army’s infantry, for more soldiers to participate in volunteer mine clearing work.
“The most important thing in mine clearing is the budget. The government spends nearly $10 million each year, although we have donors from the US, Japan, Australia, the UK and other countries, and the UN. It is still not enough,” Thuch said.
He said CMAC had asked for a study into the locations of UXO to enable the team to work in the right places – areas riddled with mines – and reach its goals by 2025.
Panyarak Poolthup, the Thai Ambassador to Cambodia and chair of the Armac Steering Committee, said his body would support the clearance of mines and ERW in all Asean countries, especially Cambodia.
Armac was inaugurated on May 2016, with the aim to collectively tackle the humanitarian aspects of landmines and ERW across the region by sharing experiences, skills training and other capacity-building activities.
“The presence of landmines and other ERW is a threat to people’s safety, a constraint to socio-economic development and a humanitarian problem in the Asean region,” Poolthup said.
CMAC director Heng Ratana announced on Wednesday that the body and the Norwegian People’s Aid in Cambodia (NPA) had signed a partnership agreement on a research proposal and the clearing of cluster mines.
He said the project, over a period of 12 months from March 1 this year to February 2020 and with a budget of $2 million, aims to clear 2,600ha of cluster mines, carry out research on 3,200ha and respond to 2,000 urgent requests.
“There are over 73,000ha of land that we know have cluster bombs but have not been cleared,” he said.
A CMAA statement on March 15 said the number of accidents caused by mine and UXO has noticeably increased.
From January 4 to April this year, 44 people were killed or wounded by mines in Oddar Meanchey, Battambang, Rattanakkiri, Tbong Khmum and other provinces.
