CMAC destroyed almost 40,000 landmines and UXOs last year

CMAC Technical Survey and Clearance Team No. TSC 23 has cleared 6 anti-tank landmines in four different holes at Battambang Province. Pic CMAC

The Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) destroyed almost 40,000 landmines and unexploded ordnance last year as part of the Kingdom’s goal to become mine-free by 2030.

CMAC director-general Heng Ratana said Saturday this came about after the clearance of more than 9,200 hectares of minefields which was about 115 percent of its target for the year.

“Throughout last year, we embarked on our mission to find and destroy as many landmines and exploded ordnance as possible. We succeeded by destroying 39,249 of them,” he added.

CMAC has estimated that there may be as many as four to six million mines and other unexploded ordnance in Cambodia.

Ratana said it was not easy to coordinate the demining operations especially with the COVID-19 pandemic where people are afraid to come out for fear of contracting the deadly virus.

“Last year was a challenging and difficult year for us to carry out our activities. However, despite the hurdles that came our way, we still managed to achieve remarkable success,” he said.

Ratana added that despite the COVID-19 threat officials still went on roadshows to educate 1,176, 312 people in some 556,288 households about landmines and their danger and garnered their participation and support for demining work.

As for this year, he said, CMAC plans to clear 11,300 hectares of minefields and destroy at least some 40,000 unexploded ordnance besides responding to 5,000 urgent intervention requests.

“We hope that this year we will be able to meet our scheduled strategic plans as that outlined in the National Strategic Mine Action Unit and the sub-National Strategic Plan to meet the sustainable development goal of becoming mine-free,” said Ratana

To meet the operational needs earmarked for this year, he said, they need to reform and strengthen the capacity of the equipment team, transportation logistics and study in-depth the geographical situation of the minefields.

Ratana thanked all the relevant local authorities, their partners, both domestic and international, and the people for their strong support and cooperation to also bring post-mine clearance development projects into their respective communities.

“Without the strong relationship with development partners and the support of the relevant authorities and the people, we would not have succeeded in our mission to implement post-mine clearance development projects that have benefited the people and will continue benefitting them,” he added.

CMAC and the Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling (Apopo), known in English as the Anti-Personnel Landmines Removal Product Development signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last month on the continued deployment of landmine detecting rats in Cambodia.

According to CMAC, under this MoU CMAC and Apopo will invest a total of $318,606 to deploy the rats in Preah Vihear and Siem Reap provinces this year.

Apopo is a non-profit organisation with Belgian roots. For 20 years this NGO has tackled landmines and tuberculosis around the world. Khmer Times