Cambodia rejects border mine-laying allegations and urges non-political humanitarian demining

The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) recently strongly rejected the Thai foreign minister’s allegations that Cambodia had newly laid mines along the border, calling the remarks “groundless, unilateral and entirely contrary to verified facts”. CMAA reiterated that Cambodia had strictly complied with its international obligations since joining the Ottawa Convention and had neither used nor laid anti-personnel mines for more than 30 years. It stressed that border mine contamination originated in historical conflicts from the 1970s to the 1990s, rather than recent activity. CMAA said Thailand frequently carried out unilateral demining and technical activities along the border without sufficient coordination or transparency, undermining bilateral cooperation and running counter to the Ottawa Convention’s spirit of humanitarian cooperation. Cambodia stressed that humanitarian demining should be guided by professionalism, neutrality and mutual respect rather than used as a political tool. It said Cambodia had consistently supported and assisted necessary demining, had never obstructed neighbouring countries’ humanitarian work, and had promoted peaceful resolution of border matters through dialogue and joint mechanisms. The authority also highlighted Cambodia’s demining achievements, saying it had cleared more than 3,000 square kilometres of contaminated land and destroyed over 1.2 million anti-personnel mines and more than 3 million items of explosive remnants of war. CMAA urged that demining issues should not be politicised, warning that unverified allegations could damage regional trust and years of effort. It reiterated that some Thai remarks had been used to discredit Cambodia’s demining achievements and international reputation. Compiled reporting by this station