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The New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM) welcomes the New Zealand government's decision to provide US $1.05 million (NZD $1.3 million) to clear landmines in north-west Cambodia. New Zealand announced the funding contribution today in Phnom Penh during an annual meeting of state parties to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
"This is a significant and most welcome contribution of funds that will save lives," said Mary Wareham, CALM Coordinator, who is attending the Phnom Penh meeting. "It sends a strong message that New Zealand is committed to matching its political support for the eradication of this weapon with practical financing."
Bacteria which glow green in the presence of explosives could provide a cheap and safe way to find hidden landmines, Edinburgh scientists claim.
The bugs can be mixed into a colourless solution, which forms green patches when sprayed onto ground where mines are buried.
Edinburgh University said the microbes could be dropped by air onto danger areas.
Within a few hours, they would indicate where the explosives can be found.
The scientists produced the bacteria using a new technique called BioBricking, which manipulates packages of DNA.
Alistair Elfick, from the university's school of engineering, who supervised the student-led project, said: "This anti-mine sensor is a great example of how innovation in science can be of benefit to wider society.
"It also demonstrates how new scientific techniques can allow molecules to be designed for a specific purpose."
Each year, between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance, according to the charity Handicap International.
Some 87 countries are riddled with minefields, including Somalia, Mozambique, Cambodia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
May 21, 2009 (PHNOM PENH) – Cambodia, one of the world’s most heavily mined countries, is sending 52 soldiers to replace some members of its group who take part in landmines clearence in southern Sudan, defence officials said on Thursday.
The group of 52 de-miners is expected to arrive in war-recovering Sudan in early June, reported the government news agency Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP). An outgoing company of Cambodian de-miners is based in Malakal, Upper Nile.
They will join the international peacekeeping mission known as UNMIS, while the outgoing solders will return home in mid-June, Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Gen. Sem Sovanny was quoted as saying.
He said that the United States had trained most of the Cambodian soldiers who will be sent to Sudan, as well as others who are preparing to be sent to Chad and Central African Republic.
Gen. Sovanny is also a director general of the National Management Centre for Peacekeeping Forces and Explosive Remnants of War. His country witnessed three decades of civil war ended in 1998, becoming one of the world’s most heavily mined countries. Its military thus has extensive experience in removing land mines.
In the past 10 years, Phnom Penh has destroyed an estimated 1.6 million landmines. Cambodia’s first demining team had arrived in Sudan in February 2006.
The Sudanese government and the former rebel SPLM signed in January 2005 a peace deal ending two decades of war in southern Sudan. In March 2005, The U.N. Security Council voted to send 10,700 peacekeepers to Sudan to monitor the peace deal, which is known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
By VOA Khmer, Washington Video Editor: Manilene Ek 03 March 2009
A new litter of puppies, born in Cambodia, are being used as the first mine-clearing dogs in Southeast Asia. Cute as they are, these puppies are being prepared for a deadly serious purpose. They are being trained to sniff out the explosive commonly known as TNT (trinitrotoluene). Cambodia is littered with tons of unexploded munitions left over from decades of war. The Landmine Monitor report 2007 says that in Cambodia between 2006-2006 there were 61 fatalities, of which 12 were children, and further 389 casualties, of which 128 were children.
The puppies were bred from a pair of Belgian Shepherd dogs imported from Bosnia. They were chosen for breeding because of their eager-to-please temperaments and their good genetic history.
Uk Rotha: "The parents of these puppies are experienced mine-clearing dogs. Cambodian dogs are not looked after as well as foreign dogs- they normally run wild, so they are not good for breeding."
Traditionally landmines have been cleared here using metal detectors, but this method is slow. Heang Sambo, who has been clearing mines with dogs in Cambodia for ten years, says that dogs are more effective.
Heang Sambo: "The difference between a metal detector and a dog is that the dog only smells TNT, while the metal detector picks up the sound of anything metal, including rubbish. That's why a dog is a lot faster than a metal detector."
And according to Sambo, it's important that handlers and thier dogs maintain a good relationship.
Heang Sambo: "Good landmine-clearing dogs must listen closely to their handler. They must have a good relationship with their handler, because if they love him, they will do what they asked to do. Plus, they need a sensitive nose which comes from good breeding."
Ngoun Thy, the senior dog instructor at the CMAC says that its costly to import dogs into the country and encouraged local breeding programs.
Ngoun Thy: "Importing trained landmine-clearing dogs is very expensive. One dog costs over thirty thousand dollars, which is too expensive for a country like Cambodia. And because we have very experienced dog trainers, here it makes more sense to orgainise our own breeding programme."
Worldwide, land mine casualties have fallen in the past decade from about 26,000 a year to between 15,000 and 20,000, according to the United Nations in 2007. In 2005, more than 285 square miles were de-mined, the largest area cleared since modern de-mining began in the late 1980s, according to the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia and Yemen accounted for nearly half the area, while nearly 54 square miles were cleared in Afghanistan, the campaign reported. Guatemala and Suriname have reported clearing all their known anti-personnel mines. After overtaking Cambodia in 2005, Colombia leads the world in victims of land mines and buried explosives, with 1,109 killed or mutilated in 2006, government figures show.
Cambodia signed the International Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified the treaty on 28 July 1999 and the treaty entered into force on 1 January 2000. Information for this report was provided by APTN.
