The Canadian government has donated a fresh supply of explosives so a Cambodia-based organization can continue to destroy land mines and other unexploded ordnance, officials said.
The explosives will serve three purposes, said Archie Law, Cambodian Mine Advisory Group country program director. They will be used to destroy mines and other explosives on site; to satisfy villagers’ request to destroy piles of mines and UXOs they have accumulated over the years; and to get rid of unexploded bombs the group occasionally finds, he said. The Mine Advisory Group operates in four provinces—Battambang, Pursat, Preah Vihear and Kompong Thom provinces—with a staff of 500 people, Law said.
“In the past three or four years, all explosives have been provided by foreign governments, and for some reasons, it has stopped,” Law said.
Canada is shipping 3,840 kg of the liquid-and-powder explosive Fixor, Canadian Ambassador Normand Mailhot said. “This product consists of two substances that are stable and inert until mixed, which makes it easy and safe to transport ,” he said.
It was developed by the Canadian firm MREL Specialty Explosive Products. The shipment amounts to a donation of about $58,000, officials said. It was handed over by Rey Pagtakhan, Canadian secretary of state for Asia-Pacific, during a ceremony in Siem Reap last month.
This supply of Fixor should last the group 12 to 18 months, Law said. The mine group destroyed 3,153 mines and 16,658 other pieces of ordnance last year. In spite of ongoing efforts to rid Cambodia of mines and explosives, they remain a danger, officials say. Between July 2000 and the end of June 2001, 783 people were killed or wounded in mine and ordnance explosions.
Experts estimate there are still between 5 and 10 million mines in Cambodia.