Cambodia Landmine History

Chanthon is CPI's Cambodia Rep and he sends this in from Phnom Penh!

Cambodia, home to 10 million people and the fabled Angkor Wat temple, is also �home� to millions of landmines. War has injured the country socially, culturally and economically and the effects are visible in many ways but perhaps most poignantly in the number of children, men and women wearing prostheses or riding wheelchairs.

Mines laid by all factions in the Cambodian conflict continue to maim and kill civilians and military and make agricultural land unsafe. In 1998, 1,249 known new casualties occurred. More than 644 square kilometers of land is known to be mined, and another 1,400 square kilometers is suspected to be mined. In a country where 85 percent of the population is dependent upon agriculture or related activities, such a contamination represents a massive restriction of Cambodia�s economic base. However through the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC), and the non-government organizations that work alongside it, the people of Cambodia are tackling this legacy of conflict.
Key developments since May 2002: In 2002, a total of 34.7 million square meters of land was cleared, including 41,030 antipersonnel mines. In 2002, 834 new mine and UXO casualties were reported, a small increase from 2001. In September 2002, Cambodia became co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies. In March 2003, Cambodia hosted a regional seminar �Building a Co-operative Future for Mine Action in South East Asia.�
Recent History
The fate of Cambodia shocked the world when the radical communist Khmer Rouge under their leader Pol Pot seized power in 1975 after years of guerrilla warfare.
The Khmer Rouge immediately abolished money and private property, and ordered city dwellers into the countryside to cultivate the fields.
An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians perished during the next three years - many died from exhaustion or starvation, others were systematically tortured and executed for being "enemies of the state".
Only now is Cambodia beginning to put the mechanism in place to bring those responsible for the "killing fields" to justice.
Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Subsistence farming employs 75% of the workforce, with the Mekong River providing fertile, irrigated fields for rice production.
Well over half of Cambodia is forested, but illegal logging is robbing the country of millions of dollars of badly needed revenue. The environment is also suffering, with topsoil erosion and flooding becoming ever more prevalent.
The government has promised to act, but local forestry officials are suspected of colluding with the timber companies.
The spread of Aids is another threat to Cambodia�s future. The booming sex industry means there are on average 100 new HIV infections every day, but Cambodia has few resources to care for them.
Geography
Location: South-eastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos
Area: 181,040 sq km
Climate: tropical; rainy, monsoon season (May to November); dry season (December to April); little seasonal temperature variation
Terrain: mostly low, flat plains, mountains in southwest and north
Natural resources: timber, gemstone, some iron ore, manganese, phosphates, hydropower potential
People
Population: 13,124,726 (2003)
Population growth rate: 1.8%
Birth rate: 27.28 births/1,000 population
Death rate: 9.26 deaths/1,000 population
Life expectancy at birth: female 60 years, male 55 years
Ethnic groups: Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 1%, other 4%
Religion: Theravada Buddhist 95%, other 5%
Languages: Khmer 95%, French, English
Nationality: Cambodian
Literacy: female 22%, male 48%
Government
Country name: Kingdom of Cambodia/Cambodia
Capital: Phnom Penn
Government type: multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy established in 1983
Chief of State: King Norodom Sihanouk
Head of Government: Prime Minister Hun Sen
International organization participation: ASEAN, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, Interpol, ILO, IMF, UN, WHO, WMO, WtoO
Economy
GDP per capital: 1,500 US dollars (2002)
Population below poverty line: 36%
GDP composition by sector: agriculture 50%, industry 15%, service 35%
Import commodities: petroleum products, cigarettes, gold, construction materials, machinery, motor vehicles
Import partners: Thailand 30.2%, Singapore 21.5%, Hong Kong 10.5%, China 7.8%, Vietnam 6.6%, Taiwan 4.7%
Export commodities: timber, garments, rubber, rice, fish
Export partners: US 61.5%, Germany 9%, Singapore 5%, UK 7.2%, Singapore 4.5%, Japan 3.8%
Economic aid recipient: $548 billion (2001)
Currency: riel