VZCZCXRO2561
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0336/01 1460935
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260935Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0737
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000336 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO EAP/MLS AND PM/WRA CHARLIE STONECIPHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID MOPS CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIA CONTINUES TO BATTLE PHYSICAL REMINDERS OF 
WAR 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000336  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. Summary: Nearly three decades of war and civil unrest have 
left Cambodia as one of the most heavily mined and explosive 
remnants of war (ERW) contaminated countries in the world. 
In addition to landmines, contamination includes cluster 
submunitions as well as abandoned explosive ordnance dropped 
by the United States during the secret bombing of Cambodia 
between 1969 and 1973.  Over fifteen years of humanitarian 
demining has significantly reduced casualties due to mine and 
ERW accidents as well as the amount of contaminated and 
suspect land.  However, some landmine experts estimate that 
roughly 700-1000 square kilometers are still heavily mined, 
creating a significant obstacle to post-conflict 
rehabilitation, poverty reduction, investment and long-term 
development.  The international community will need to 
support humanitarian mine action activities at a sustained 
rate for several years before success is in sight. End 
Summary. 
 
Troubled History 
---------------- 
 
¶2. According to the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), the 
North Vietnamese army laid the first landmines in Cambodia in 
1967 and continued to do so throughout the Vietnamese War. 
The United States then began covert carpet-bombing operations 
in the late sixties.  In the seventies, the Khmer Rouge as 
well as the Lon Nol regime used landmines to protect 
defensive perimeters and block borders.  The Vietnamese 
invasion into Cambodia on January 7, 1979 did not end the 
conflict, with fighting continuing into the early nineties. 
The Vietnamese-backed government conscripted hundreds of 
thousands of Cambodians for perilous labor such as land 
clearance and mining through the Kor Pram project, better 
known as K5.  Beginning in 1985, millions of mines were laid 
along the K5 mine belt ) n approximately 700 kilometer 
barrier along the western and northern border with Thailand. 
United Nations deminers began the slow and dangerous task of 
clearing this area of mines beginning in 1992. 
 
Addressing the Problem 
---------------------- 
 
¶3. Currently, three main humanitarian mine action (HMA) NGOs 
focus their efforts on the K5 mine belt in northwestern 
Cambodia, which has the greatest concentration of mines in 
the country.  HALO Trust, Mines Advisory Group (MAG), and 
CMAC each fulfill a specific niche in the ongoing struggle to 
rid Cambodia of landmines.  HALO is an expert in the field, 
and is known for its methodical and professional approach to 
landmine clearance.  HALO focuses on the most densely mined 
areas, much of which is located in uninhabited forested areas 
of the border, and consistently has the highest numbers of 
mines cleared (per clearance worker and per unit area).  Some 
observers, however, believe that more of an emphasis should 
be placed on the social-economic aspects of landmine and ERW 
contamination.  This is where MAG and CMAC's expertise come 
into play.  Both NGOs work with the provincial Mine Action 
Planning Units (MAPUs) to select clearance areas based on 
social-economic impact to include land release, which 
ultimately frees land for farming and other productive use. 
MAG and CMAC also promote gender equality with females making 
up over 30 percent of their deminers.  However, by 
concentrating on poverty alleviation and land release, MAG 
and CMAC end up clearing large swaths of land which may or 
may not have landmines, lowering their overall clearance 
productivity statistics. 
 
Battle Area Clearance 
---------------------- 
 
¶4. During the secret bombing campaign of Cambodia from 
1969-1973, the U.S. is reported to have dropped approximately 
half a million tons of bombs, littering the ground with over 
26 million submunitions.  Most were dropped in the eastern 
provinces where the Ho Chi Minh trail wound through Laos and 
Cambodia and into southern Vietnam.  According to Handicap 
International, close to one third of these submunitions 
failed to explode, resulting in more than 8.5 million 
explosives scattered throughout the eastern portion of 
Cambodia.  These unexploded remnants kill or injure more 
Cambodians annually than landmines.  Poverty, the 
construction of highways and roads, and land migration has 
put more people on a collision path with ERW in these areas. 
Many villagers know where the ERW are and stay away, 
preventing them from safely using the land for agriculture or 
infrastructure.  Poverty has forced others to take a chance, 
often farming the contaminated areas or collecting scrap 
metal and explosives from the submunitions to sell. 
Recently, CMAC has taken the lead to remove explosives in the 
eastern provinces and depending on funding, deploys one to 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000336  002 OF 002 
 
 
ten units to clear the former battle areas. 
 
Exporting Expertise 
------------------- 
 
¶5. Since the beginning of the UNTAC period over 1 million 
mines and approximately 500 square kilometers have been 
cleared.  After years of trial and error, Cambodia's demining 
expertise is now benefiting others worldwide.  Last year, 
Afghan deminers spent several months in Cambodia, working 
side by side with trained HALO deminers to learn new 
techniques.  In 2007, 135 Cambodian troops were sent to Sudan 
on a United Nations Peace Keeping Operation (PKO). 
Additional troops have rotated through on a yearly basis and 
several hundred others stand ready for emergency peacekeeping 
and demining missions. 
 
Victims of Their Own Success 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6. A new baseline survey will be conducted this year to 
better determine the extent of existing land contaminated by 
landmines and set area priorities for clearance.  It is 
roughly estimated that approximately 700-1000 square 
kilometers of heavily contaminated land remains to be cleared 
(current rate of clearance is around 36 square kilometers per 
year).  Landmine and ERW casualties have dramatically 
decreased from over 2000 annually in the early 1990's to 266 
in 2008.  However, it appears that the decrease in casualty 
numbers will be accompanied by a decrease in funding for HMA 
in Cambodia.  International mine action funding to Cambodia 
was over $30 million in 2007, with the U.S. State Department 
contributing approximately $4 million.  Poloff's discussion 
with other donors, including Japan, Australia, Germany and 
Canada, reveals that funding will begin to decrease and 
eventually phase out beginning in 2010.  U.S. State 
Department funding will drop by over $1 million in FY2010.  A 
representative from the United Nations Development Program, 
which funds an oversight group for HMA activities in 
Cambodia, recently stated that Cambodia will "require 
sustained external funding into the medium term" to overcome 
its landmine problem. 
 
Vigilance 
--------- 
 
¶7. Even after 15 years of demining, Cambodia remains one of 
the most heavily mined countries in the world along with 
Afghanistan and Angola.  A recent government survey found 
that over forty percent of the villages in Cambodia have a 
mine problem.  Landmine and ERW accidents occur almost daily 
in a country where more than 40,000 people have lost limbs 
due to mine and ERW accidents.  Cambodia suffers from one of 
the highest physical disability rates in the world and has no 
legislation to protect the rights of persons with 
disabilities.  Mine and ERW survivors face economic hardships 
as a result of their disabilities, and tend to be among the 
poorest of the poor.  Livelihood activities make up the 
majority of reasons causing the casualties, with young males 
and boys representing the group most affected.  Although mine 
risk education is widespread, competition for land has become 
fierce.  Landmines and ERW impede access to resources, 
including water and land for agriculture.  Furthermore, they 
block access to roads, markets and basic social services such 
as schools and health clinics. 
 
¶8.  Comment: The above challenges will not disappear by 2010. 
 The international mine action donor community will need to 
continue to support HMA at a sustained rate for the next 
several years to free Cambodia from the negative humanitarian 
and social-economic impacts of landmines and ERW.  The 
Cambodian government and NGOs have endeavored to keep HMA in 
the spotlight to include several press articles and even a 
spot on the popular U.S. reality television show, In Harm's 
Way, late last year.  In this context, post will continue to 
seek additional funding sources to augment the HMA budget for 
Cambodia.  The Embassy hopes to secure similar funding in 
future years.  Although a good deal of progress has been 
made, much more remains to be done.  End Comment. 
 
RODLEY