The landmine-free celebration event was held on May 12 in Prey Veng’s Svay Antor district. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN
PHNOM PENH, May 14 (Phnom Penh Post/ANN): Prey Veng is now the second province to be declared landmine free – after Kep – but the province still has many undiscovered munitions and cluster bombs as well as other unexploded ordnance (UXO), said Ly Thuch, senior minister and first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA).
The landmine-free celebration event was held on Thursday in Prey Veng’s Svay Antor district.
“This is a historic day, not just for the people of Prey Veng province, but for the Cambodian people,” Thuch said. He warned that dangers remained in the province from bombs dropped from aircraft – such as cluster bombs – and UXOs on 164km sq of land, made up of 1,298 farms.
These areas needed to be cleared promptly, he added.
Thuch thanked all donor countries and development partners for providing assistance to Cambodia in mine clearance work.
He said the government is on track to clear five more lightly affected provinces: Kampong Cham (with 98ha affected), Preah Sihanouk (174ha), Ratanakkiri (275ha), Kampong Chhnang (328ha) and Takeo (363ha).American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia president Anthony Galliano, who attended the ceremony, said that CMAA had contributed a lot to the government’s mine clearance efforts.
He said he will continue to mobilise more resources from the private sector under his facilitation to contribute to mine action to save the lives of Cambodian people.
“Mine clearance is a job for all of us. It requires participation from relevant actors, donor countries, development partners, and generous individuals to end the threat of mines in Cambodia,” he said.
Thuch listed several outstanding donors who contributed to this valuable work, including the US, UK, Japan, Australia, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, China, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Ireland, Hungary, UNDP, Unicef and many other civil society organisations. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
