Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Cambodia has 20,000 to 55,000 illegal weapons

Cambodia still has more than 20, 000 illegal weapons out of control of the government, local media reported Monday.

A recent study revealed that, in late 2005, the government had licensed between 15,000 and 23,000 weapons, but there were still 20,000 to 55,000 weapons, that lay outside of the control of the government, in the hands of illegal users, Development Weekly reported.

The report was presented by Prok Vanny, president of the Working Group for Weapons Reduction (WGWR), at a recent national seminar.

Prok Vanny stated that the study conducted by the WGWR revealed that Cambodians think that security in their country is improving. However, many people have called on the government to continue its measures to collect and confiscate illegal weapons since they believe that many weapons are still in the hands of some individuals who use them illegally.

Cambodia's arms law was approved by the National Assembly in April 2005.

Sem Sophal, a three-star general of the National Polices Commissariat, said that since 1998, the Cambodian government, with the participation of all levels of its citizens, local authorities, international and national NGOs, has attempted to find a solution to the weapons' problem in an attempt to make people to live with dignity, peace, stability, security and development.

So far, 195,183 weapons have been publicly burned under "the flame of peace", he added.

Source: Xinhua

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