• Society

Kampong Speu Province Celebrates Mine-Free Milestone

• By Teng Yalirozy
• October 30, 2023 12:00 PM

PHNOM PENH – Kampong Speu has become the 13th​ mine-free province, a move to achieve the national goal of eradicating the war remnants by 2025.

Prime Minister Hun Manet welcomed the province’s new status.

“The light has gradually shone after the end of the war with no new mines installed,” said. “We are working to solve our citizens’ problems.”

The province joined Kandal, Kampot, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kep, Prey Veng, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Stung Treng, Svay Rieng, Takeo and Tboung Khmum as being mine-free.

The PM said Kampong Speu has turned from a minefield to a plantation and an industrial area as well as a place for educational institutions.

The first US bombs dropped on Cambodian in 1962. Hun Manet said landmines were hard to eradicate because some had been dug up and put to other uses. Some explosive remnants of war were hard to detect after being buried for a long time. 

In September, Hun Manet called for continued support from the international community to achieve the country's mine-free goal when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Ly Thuch, first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, said that from 1979 to June 2023, landmine and remnants of war explosions killed 19,821 people and injured 45,205.

According to the Korea International Cooperation Agency, 570 casualties due to landmines and explosive remnants of war were recorded in the first six months of 2022 in Cambodia.

The government’s strategy to clear all mines by 2025 was launched in 2018, backed by the UN. The mine-free target has been added to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

In July last year, former Prime Minister Hun Sen established the “Samdech Techo Project for Mine Action” to provide more funds for the CMAA. Many companies and okhnas have donated to the project.