Cambodia's help sought in demining Philippine territo

From UCA News (Apr 11, 2022): Cambodia's help sought in demining Philippine territory

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region remains littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance

Magawa, an African giant pouched rat with an uncanny knack for sniffing out landmines and unexploded ordnance, at work in Cambodia on Sept. 25, 2020. (Photo: AFP/PDSA)

The Cambodian Mine Authority has received a request from the Philippines to help it demine the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, which remains littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

This was revealed by the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) in a statement saying the issue came up during a meeting between its vice president Ly Thuch and Philippine ambassador Amelita Aquino, who led a mine action delegation to Cambodia last week.

“Aquino requested the Cambodian government, through CMAA, to cooperate in helping their demining efforts, especially in the Bangsamoro region, so recently affected by war,” the CMAA said.

The region, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), is an autonomous region located in the southern Philippines and has struggled to rebuild since 2014 when the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ended its 44-year separatist insurgency after signing a peace pact with the Philippine government.

Cambodia has gained a wealth of experience with its demining efforts, which have substantially reduced the number of landmines and UXO across the country since United Nations peacekeepers arrived in 1992 and the final end to the 30-year civil war in 1998.

Between 4-6 million landmines and other munitions were originally scattered across the country and Phnom Penh wants Cambodia to be free of landmines and UXO by 2025.

“This event has brought together representatives from mine action programs from around the ASEAN member states to share their considerable knowledge and experience with our neighbors from the Philippines"

About half have been removed but monsoonal rains and shifting geography persistently hamper deminers, particularly in sloping and heavily forested areas. Cambodia has said it will redouble its efforts with the deployment of 2,000 soldiers to be trained in demining.

After conducting demining workshops with his Philippine counterparts, Ly Thuch said Cambodia had learned all aspects of mine clearance and now wanted to help people in other countries in need of mine clearance expertise.

He said Cambodia placed a high value on its close relationship with the Philippines, which included the deployment of peacekeepers under the United Nations Transitional Authority in the early 1990s.

While casualties — often children playing with war relics — have fallen dramatically over the last decade, deaths still occur. In January, an anti-tank mine killed three members of a Cambodian demining team while they were carrying out their work.

Prum Suonpraseth, executive director of the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center, praised a three-day workshop that was co-hosted by the Fondation Suisse de Déminage France and the Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines.

“This event has brought together representatives from mine action programs from around the ASEAN member states to share their considerable knowledge and experience with our neighbors from the Philippines who are in the midst of developing their own explosive hazard management mechanisms, particularly in western Mindanao,” he said.

“It resulted in a detailed road map of possible future policy, operational and capacity development activities to be considered by the Philippine authorities."

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