US Aid Freeze Disrupts Demining

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By:
- Sao Phal Niseiy
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January 31, 2025, 7:51 PM
PHNOM PENH – Demining operations have halted temporarily in eight provinces after the US froze foreign aid.
Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), said the suspension will last 85 days and will affect operations in Kampong Cham, Kratie, Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Stung Treng, Tboung Khmum, Svay Rieng and Prey Veng.
The US had provided around $6.3 million through partner organizations to fund more than 200 demining experts from March 2022 until the end of November, Ratana said.
The Trump administration's unprecedented freeze on nearly all foreign assistance permits only emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt.
Cambodia is one of the beneficiaries of the aid program funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has provided $3 billion over the past three decades.
In October of last year, Samantha Power, the then USAID administrator, promised $12 million in new funding to support demining and $5 million to enhance health security.

Ratana advised people and local authorities to coordinate with more than 1,000 volunteer police officers in their provinces, enabling CMAC to deploy a demining team to clear unexploded ordnance and other remnants of war, ensuring the safety of the community if any issues arise.
Mines have been a bitter legacy of war in Cambodia as it was heavily bombed by the US during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. According to Ben Kiernan, a historian at Yale University and a leading scholar on Cambodia, it is estimated that around 500,000 tonnes of US bombs were dropped on Cambodia between 1969 and 1973.
The reduction in US aid has dealt a new blow to Cambodia's already struggling mine action efforts. The country previously set 2025 as its goal for mine-free status but decided this month to extend its goal to 2030.
