Synopsis: Senior Minister Ly Thuch says the Kingdom remains dedicated to clearing legacy minefields and explosive war remnants, even as experts warn the work will take decades.
Cambodia remains committed to clearing both longstanding and newly identified explosive hazards despite growing challenges from the border conflict with Thailand, Senior Minister Ly Thuch said yesterday, warning that it could take up to two decades to clear the new contamination.
“We will finish both tasks — the old and the new — because our people are owed safe ground,” Thuch at a meeting of the Government-Donor Technical Working Group on Mine Action, in Phnom Penh, attended by government officials, international development partners, mine clearance operators, civil society organisations and private sector representatives.
Thuch, who is first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), said the new contamination had created a serious humanitarian burden for Cambodia, threatening to undermine more than three decades of mine clearance progress.
“In a single year of conflict, Cambodia acquired a contaminated area larger than everything 30 years of clearance had left us to finish,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Thuch said clearing the newly affected areas could take one to two decades, citing dangerous munitions, difficult terrain and the need for substantial resources.
He said some unexploded munitions were sensitive and could detonate through minor contact, posing risks to deminers.
The difficult terrain, including forests, mountains and rocky landscapes, also limits the use of heavy machinery, mine detection dogs and rats, requiring specialised personnel to carry out slower clearance operations.
At the same meeting, Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) director-general Heng Ratana said surveys had identified approximately 3,800 square kilometres of areas affected by explosive ordnance from the 2025 border conflict, covering more than 5,400 mapped areas and affecting an estimated 364,000 people.
He said nearly 3,000 square kilometres across 335 villages had been identified as affected by cluster munitions, estimating that between six and seven million submunitions were fired during 26 days of fighting.
CMAC teams have discovered more than 6,000 cluster submunitions over the past nine months and conducted urgent clearance operations at 89 schools to protect students and teachers, Heng Ratana added.
He challenged Thailand’s claims that some bombs discovered in Cambodia were remnants of US bombing in the 1970s.
Ratana said CMAC, working with international experts, had identified a bomb manufactured in Israel in 1996, while other recovered bombs or components were dated as recently as 2023.
“There is no way that they can use a bomb manufactured in 1996 to drop in the 1970s,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thuch said mine clearance along certain sections of the Cambodia–Thailand border would require discussions between the two countries to clarify territorial boundaries before committing personnel and financial resources.
