The Cambodian government affirmed on Monday that they would provide funding to the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) starting from next year after the US Government had decided to halt all financial aid to CMAC.
According to Mr. Heng Ratana, CMAC's Director General, the Cambodian government would annually provide $2.5 million financial aid to his center to replace the US funding that would be cut starting from January 2018.
"I has been directly instructed and recommended by Prime Minister Hun Sen. So, I would like to inform all CMAC's operation forces financed by the US Government that our government, with other development partners, will provide funding to CMAC to replace the US aid cut starting from the beginning of January 2018," wrote Mr. Ratana on his Facebook page on Monday.
Mr. Ratana added that on Monday, the US funded Norwegian People’s Aid, NGO partnering with CMAC to clear landmine, told him that the US Embassy in Cambodia had decided to cut the US annual humanitarian aid to CMAC starting from next year without saying any word.
"So far, CMAC and the US Government, through the US Department of State, agreed to support CMAC's task forces to clear the US explosive remnant of war on Cambodian territory, such as bombs dropped from US planes, cluster bombs, and other unexploded ordnance [UXO]," added Mr. Ratana.
Mr. Ratana also said that the result from this cooperation was a great success. To this fact, Mr. Ratana expressed his deep disappointment regarding the US sudden aid cut. Particularly, when the US Government has the obligation, bound by the international laws, to remove their heavily dangerous chemical bombs recently found on Cambodian territory.
Concerning this issue, Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon, on October 29 in his speech to his ruling party CPP's supporters in Saang District, Kandal Province, said that his government already filed a complaint to the UN asking them to help Cambodia clear those US chemical bombs by providing adequate human and technical support.
According to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), all States Parties have the obligation to destroy any chemical weapons they abandoned on the territory of other countries in the past.
"All States Parties have agreed to chemically disarm by destroying any stockpiles of chemical weapons they may hold and any facilities which produced them, as well as any chemical weapons they abandoned on the territory of other States Parties in the past," wrote the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on its website.
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