CAMBODIA: War’s Over, But Mines Still Kill

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Apr 12 - It has been 16 years since the Paris Peace Accords ended decades of conflict in Cambodia, but people continue to get maimed and die due to  unexploded ordnance and landmines, especially in this South-east Asian country's border with Thailand.
 
   Cambodia remains “one of the most horrific minefields in the world”, Christian Boshoff, deputy programme manager at the Hazard Area Life-Support Organisation (Halo Trust Cambodia), told a group of journalists from the Mekong region here recently.

   The most common estimates of landmines and unexploded devices in Cambodia are at four to six million. Among the most heavily mined areas is the K-5 minestrip at Cambodia's border with Thailand.

    Boshoff explained, “Most of the landmines were left by the Vietnamese, who grew tired of the Khmer Rogue’s killings, and with the support of the Cambodian government, laid a defense mine belt, the world's longest/largest minefield.”

    In the eighties, 700 kilometres of the border were sealed off by the Vietnamese-backed government in Cambodia to prevent the genocidal Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and was ousted by the Vietnamese army in an invasion, from receiving help from the North. This strip was called the K-5, a densely mined barrier from 10 to 150 metres wide.

   The Khmer Rouge laid mines as they advanced positions, and the Vietnamese also laid them to secure land they had won. The Vietnamese withdrew from Cambodia in 1988, after which guerrilla groups also laid minefields.

   After the conflict ended, communities began returning to their homes and properties. Even today, residents who need to make money go into mined areas to try to find a way of making a living.
 
   "Statistics show that “95 percent of landmine accidents have been concentrated more towards the K-5 border," Boshoff explained.
 
   A survey conducted by British-based Halo Trust in 2005 studied 116 families in a rural village situated along Banteay Meanchey province's border with Thailand. The survey results indicated that 83 percent of the population was dependent on foraging in the minefields. Although 25 households in the village of Maharsrob suffered from mine injuries, 23 households continue to risk their lives in the fields for an average return of 75 U.S. cents a day.

    The number of mine accidents has remained largely constant in Cambodia, a country of more than 12 million people. Over the last four years, from 2002 to 2005, the average rate was 842 accidents per year, according to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has said the government would like to see this figure fall to zero over the next decade.
 
   “You can explain or educate, but if you don’t take the mines out of the ground, the problem is still there”, added Boshoff.

   The prime minister was also quoted as saying in an international landmine conference in March that “landmines are still one of the biggest issues” for Cambodia's development.
 
   Boshoff pointed out that the landmines prevent Cambodians from carrying out basic routines such as farming, foraging and even moving around from place to place.
 
   Nonetheless, Boshoff highlighted that the locals have stepped up the effort to remove the mines around the outskirts of the K-5, on their own because they need to use the land around them. “Since the trained staff are so few, the Cambodians have dealt with some of the demining themselves,” explained Boshoff. “A lot of this is happening today, and it’s positive.”
 
   He added that with the use of rudimentary metal-detecting tools, these locals work with the aim of being able to use the cleared land to earn a living by agricultural means.
 
 Last year, The Halo Trust alone, cleared 27,000 mines from the ground, stated Boshoff, adding that the organization continues to work at a demining rate of 3,300 mines per month, on average.

   Integrating the participation of the locals with the efforts of the NGOs, Boshoff said that the K-5’s mine situation is gradually improving.

   Currently, the main demining organisations in Cambodia include, The Halo Trust, The Mine Action Group (MAG), and The Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC). “It is not a competition to see who takes all the mines; we just want to take them away,” said Boshoff. (END/Newsmekong/IPSAP/SW/JS/120407)