KEP: Kep has been declared as the first mine-free province in Cambodia, while the capital city of Phnom Penh and seven other provinces are also expected to be announced as mine-free within 2022.

Speaking at a ceremony on Monday, 28 February, the First Deputy Chairman of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority and representative of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Senior Minister Ly Thuch, declared Kep Province as the first province to be mine-free in the country. He said that in 2021, Prime Minister Hun Sen selected the least affected, Kep province, to be cleared and declared as the first demining province–with the financial support of Norway and Hungary, and choose the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) as the primary deminers.

The Senior Minister thanked the Government of Norway, the Government of Hungary, and CMAC for providing financial and technical support to end the presence of landmines in Kep. He also thanked the development partners, allies, and other national and international operators who have joined the Royal Government of Cambodia in providing technical, material, and financial support for humanitarian mine action in Cambodia.

"Cambodia has been plagued by chronic wars since the 1960s, both with landmines and unexploded ordnances," he said at the ceremony.

He continued to explain that “A demining village or a demining province is not a village or a province without other unexploded ordnances, such as bombs dropped from planes, cluster munitions, and other kinds of unexploded ordnances.”

Kep province is now free of mines but not yet from unexploded ordnance from the war, so he urged everyone to continue being careful and continue taking measures to solve and respond to the problem of unexploded ordnances in a timely and effective manner.

According to Senior Minister Ly Thuch, Cambodia plans to declare seven more capitals and provinces to be mine-free in 2022, including Prey Veng, Kandal, Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Sihanoukville, Ratanakiri, and Takeo provinces.

Kep Provincial Governor Som Piseth said that Kep was a hotbed of fighting between government forces and the Khmer Rouge, especially in the Phnom Vly region, one of the hottest areas of Cambodia. After the end of the war, some areas were left with many landmines and unexploded ordnance, resulting in 221 casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war by 2021, of which 198 were in Damnak Chang Eur district, and 23 were from Kep. Additionally, 92% of these casualties were affected by landmines.

The Provincial Governor Continued, “Even though this first province has run out of mines, I believe that the Mine Authority and donors will continue to support Kep in this area to address the remaining issues of explosive remnants of war.”

Heng Ratana, the Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, said that Kep has a total of 27 minefields with a total area of more than 4 million square meters, which the unit has cleared twice since 1995. Additionally, the mines most found in this province were anti-personnel mines.

The Director said, "CMAC has deployed forces to clear the area and has kept a record of the anti-personnel landmines found in Kep province. Both times during clearing more than 700 anti-personnel mines and more than 600 unexploded ordnance were found. Since deciding to liberate Kep from this threat, anti-personnel mines are now 100% cleared. So Kep has no more record of anti-personnel mines in the national database; thus, it becomes a mine-free province."

The Chargé d'Affaires of the Hungarian Embassy in Cambodia, Istvan Bakos, said that as a member of the Ottawa Convention, Hungary can no longer see its members continue to suffer from landmines, so the Hungarian government is especially involved in assisting Cambodia.

He said, "We can not stand by and see landmines taking new victims, preventing families to grow crops or children to go to school safely.”

He continued, “mine clearance is a prerequisite to investment in infrastructure and sustainable development, both at local and national level. Being safe from landmines would also allow us to fully benefit from the opportunities this fascinating country offers to tourism.”