Landmines in Cambodia; a success story

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:52 am

An upbeat human interest story from Aljazeera on what clearing landmines has meant to Cambodia with some very nice photos.

Beating the odds and clearing landmines in Cambodia
12 September 2017

Several humanitarian mine clearance organisations, such as HALO Trust, Mines Advisory Group and more, have been working in Cambodia for more than 20 years. Currently, 50 percent of the landmine fields across Cambodia have been cleared. Thanks to these efforts, land that had been considered too dangerous to farm is now productive farmland.

"When I think back to that time, all I can remember is the fear that we lived with," says Pao. "Now, life is like a tree that gives fruit."
In 1992, when Pao had his accident, there were 1,573 recorded accidents in Cambodia. Last year there were just 42.

Full article : http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpict ... 11964.html

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:11 am

It's by Nic Dunlop, the guy who found Kaing Guek Eav (Duch).

AlonzoPartriz · Post by **AlonzoPartriz** » Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:06 am

Any idea how much China has invested in clearing mines? I was led to believe that they paid for them all to be laid. Apart from the Viet's trying to keep those KR chaps in the Chinese backed Thai camps.

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:14 am

More mines were laid by the Vietnamese-backed government in the 1980s, of Soviet/Eastern Bloc origin. There were better records kept of where they were laid though so they weren't as troublesome as the ones laid by other factions. China has actually trained Cambodian deminers and contributed equipment, but with insignificant amounts compared to other countries.

cptrelentless · Post by **cptrelentless** » Thu Sep 14, 2017 3:17 am

I thought they had a load of those trained rats doing the demining