Lieutenant General Ke Da, Deputy Secretary-General of the Cambodian chemical weapon authority, on Saturday, from the Netherland, told reporters that the UN, through its Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), would send experts in chemical weapon to Cambodia in the second week of December.
"We have been discussing in detail with OPCW's officials. If nothing will be changed, the operation [the removal of chemical weapon] will begin in the second week of December," said Lt. Gen Ke Da.
Lt. Gen Ke Da was sent to the Hague in Netherland, to meet with OPCW's chemical weapon experts, after the OPCW has agreed with the Kingdom of Cambodia to send its chemical weapons to help Cambodia remove the US chemical bombs found in Cambodia's territory.
The found US Chemical bombs in Svay Rieng's Korki commune were confirmed by experts from the Cambodian chemical weapon authority to be chemical weapons in the kind of Nitrogen Mustard also known as Blister Agent that causes heavy damages to human skin and lung.
As of October 26, the Cambodian Ministry of Health affirmed that 89 Cambodian people living in the US chemical bombs drop zone were hospitalized. And the ministry believed they were affected by chemical bombs.
Concerning this issue, the US Embassy in Cambodia, on Wednesday, announced that the bid for a $2 million grant to survey and clear the US unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the Eastern Cambodia for the year 2018-2019 began and would end in January 16 next year, with the possibility that the funding could be extended for one more year.
According to Ambassador William Heidt, the US Government has supported landmine clearance in Cambodia for more than 20 years in view to take full responsibility regarding the US explosive remnants of war left from the Vietnam War.
Besides the US, the People's Republic of China also expressed its intention to help Cambodian people clear landmines and remnants of war in the country. As a result, on Monday, the Embassy of China in Phnom Penh donated 1,200 wheelchairs, 40 motorbikes, and a number of other demining equipments to the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA).
During the handover ceremony, Mr. Serey Kosal, CMAA's vice president, told reporters that with China's funding of about $400 million, all landmines in Cambodia would be cleared even before the deadline in 2025.
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