Cambodia to resume demining after US aid waiver

Cambodian deminers are to resume operations to clear unexploded munitions, after the United States granted a waiver to keep funding the work in the country, officials said on Friday.

Cambodia remains littered with unexploded bombs, many of which were dropped by American forces during the Vietnam War. 

Cambodia was forced to partially suspend demining operations from late January after Washington suddenly halted funding following President Donald Trump's order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days.

Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), told AFP on Friday that the US had granted a conditional waiver for funding to partner organisations supporting Cambodia’s demining projects.

He said he had sent deminers, who had been standing down for the past several weeks, back to the field and that operations to clear unexploded munitions would resume on Monday.

"We are happy to resume our mission to save lives," Keo Sarath, manager of CMAC's demining unit 5 headquarters, which is responsible for clearing along eastern provinces bordering Vietnam.

The United States has been a "key partner" and provided around $10 million a year to fund mine clearance in Cambodia.

Ly Thuch, a senior government minister and leading official in Cambodia's Mine Action Authority, confirmed the US embassy had informed the foreign ministry about the continuation of demining funding.

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He said deminers would soon be able to resume full-scale operations.

During the Vietnam War, then-US president Richard Nixon ordered a clandestine bombing campaign over large swathes of Laos and Cambodia, which helped fuel the rise of the Khmer Rouge. 

After more than 30 years of civil war ended in 1998, Cambodia was left as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

Deaths from the war remnants are still common, with around 20,000 people killed since 1979, and twice that number wounded.

More than 1,600 square kilometres (620 square miles) of contaminated land still needs to be cleared in Cambodia. 

Cambodia had aimed to be mine-free by 2025, but the government pushed the deadline back by five years because of funding challenges and new landmine fields found along the Thai border.

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