Landmine survivor touched by local mine removal efforts

Song Kosal

By Ni Kuo-yen and Christie Chen

Kinmen, Aug. 23 (CNA) Song Kosal, a Cambodian anti-landmine youth ambassador who attended the peace bell ringing ceremony in Kinmen Tuesday, said she was touched by the Taiwanese military's efforts to remove mines from the island.

Kosal, a member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, was one of the more than 100 youths from 20 countries who gathered on Taiwan's outlying island of Kinmen for a bell ringing ceremony to pray for world peace.

Under the company of social welfare workers, Kosal, 26, toured several minefields after the ceremony to learn about local actions to clear mines and restore the land.

She touted Taiwan's accomplishments in removing mines and said her trip to Kinmen was an emotional one. Photos of war victims on display at the ceremony make one want to cry, said Kosal, who is a landmine survivor herself.

She lost her right leg when she was five after accidentally stepping onto a landmine in Cambodia. She joined the international campaign against landmines at the age of 12, and has traveled around the world to raise awareness about landmines.

The Cambodian youth ambassador expressed her hope for the landmines in Kinmen to not only be removed, but destroyed, as soon as possible.

She also visited an exhibition of equipment to clear mines and listened to a report by Chao Chung-kun, the captain of the Kinmen Defense Command's mine removal unit.

In his report, Chao said the military has already removed 60,000 landmines and unexploded bombs in 96 minefields since 2007, covering a total of 2.47 million square meters, or about 5,795 basketball courts. That is 80.9 percent of the task accomplished, he said.

Chao estimates his unit will clear all mines in Kinmen before the scheduled completion date in 2013.

Kosal presented Chao and other military officials with scarves woven by Cambodian survivors of landmines, and the military reciprocated with figurines representing the mine removal unit.

The ceremony on Tuesday commemorated the 53rd anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment -- a battle in which Chinese troops fired over 470,000 shells at Kinmen over a period of 44 days, injuring and killing thousands of soldiers and civilians.

The 2-meter high "peace bell," inscribed with the word "peace" in over 100 languages, was made from the cannon shells that rained down on Kinmen during the battle.