CMAC announces nationwide search for UXOs dropped by US

July 06, 2023

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

Starting next month, Cambodian Mines Action Centre (CMAC), in cooperation with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) and other stakeholders, will begin a nationwide survey to unearth mines and bombs dropped by US and its allies on the Cambodian soil during 1970s.

Heng Ratana, Director-general of CMAC, told Khmer Time yesterday that the government has a plan to clear all kinds of mines including anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines in Cambodia by 2025 in accordance with the Ottawa Treaty.

As many as 164 states had ratified or acceded to the Ottawa Treaty or simply known as Mine Ban Treaty of 1977, that aims at eliminating anti-personnel landmines around the world. However, several major powers, including US, are not party to the treaty.

“I think that it could take at least 40 to 50 years or more to remove or clear all the bombs dropped by the American troops and its military alliances planes in Cambodia,” he added.

Ratana said that according to the CMAA estimation, the America and its allies dropped bombs or unexploded ordnances (UXOs) in tens of thousands of locations during the civil war in the 1970s in Cambodia.

He added that the worst affected areas are in the provinces bordering Vietnam such as Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Kampong Cham, Tboung Khmum, Kratie, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri.

“According the data that we had obtained from the US, the US troops and its military alliances had dropped more than four million tonnes of bombs. And so far, we do not know the exact size or quantity of the bombs dropped yet. We are now surveying those locations clearly,” he said.

Ratana also said the CMAC’s de-miners and others involved in the demining are doing their best to make the country mine-free by 2025. As the CMAC and authorities concerned are still struggling to locate all the places where the bombs were buried, a national survey has become necessary to achieve this goal, he added.

The national survey will help to know the areas where the bombs were dropped as well as the impact of the buried bombs and UXOs buried deep under the grounds or waters.

“CMAC deminers were focusing their search operations on either cities or provinces all these years,” Ratana told Khmer Times.

“As Cambodia aims to remove all kinds of anti-personnel mines by 2025, I think that now it is necessary for us to conduct the national survey so that we will know exactly about the size or the areas of bombs dropped and its locations and also know about the danger or impact caused by the bombs on the people living in those areas,” he said.

He added that most of the bombs or UXOs now are still of good quality and their explosive levels are also still high and they can still be dangerous even though they have been buried in deep grounds or in water or in the river for decades.