Event Shows Support for UN Arms Meeting

Cambodia will hold a weapons destruction ceremony today to mark the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons taking place in New York.

About 5,000 weapons will be burned in Kampong Chhnang province in a giant “Flame of Peace” bonfire. At least 16 countries rebuilding from war are plan­ning to hold similar ceremonies around the world to highlight the conference, the first major UN gathering on disarmament since 1987.

Since 1998, when Cambodia launched its weapons reduction campaign, 112,562 weapons have been collected and 50,604 de­stroyed.

Cambodia is a leader in arms reduction, the only country in Southeast Asia to have made such a commitment to disarmament, said Neb Sinthay, executive coordinator of the Working Group for Weapons Reduction, an NGO umbrella group. Cambo­dia could become a model for other countries facing a similar problem, he said.

After three decades of war and con­flicts, there are an estimated 500,000 guns in Cam­bo­dia, said Prince Sisowath Sirirath, co-minister of defense.

These weapons are no longer needed, and the Cambodian government wants them out of circulation, the prince said, so that “all foreigners [and Cambodians] feel secure to walk on the streets.”

With the support of the Eur­o­pean Union, the government has been tackling the problem from numerous angles.

Training programs have been organized to improve relations between police officers and villagers so that the population will feel safe enough to give up weapons. This, as well as the “Flames of Peace,” is funded by the EU program Assistance on Curbing Small Arms and Light Weapons in Cambodia.

Disarming the country is no easy task, said Kao Kim Hourn, executive director of the Cam­bodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace.

“But there is a clear commitment [on the part of the government]. The clearest message Cambodia can bring to the [UN] conference is to continue supporting arms control,” he said.

The Cambodian delegation to New York is being led by Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng. The conference runs through July 21.