PM Hun Sen unveils demining initiative at Queen Noor's visit

PM Hun Sen unveils demining initiative at Queen Noor's visit

PHNOM PENH (AFP): Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday
met with anti-landmine campaigner Queen Noor of Jordan, unveiling
a radical plan to transform thousands of hardened soldiers into
deminers.

"The prime minister told Queen Noor that the government is
planning to send demobilized soldiers to help in demining
operations," said cabinet spokesman Eang Sophalette after the
meeting.

Cambodia, one of the world's most heavily mined countries, is
planning to slash the size of its cumbersome armed forces
following the end of its long-running civil war.

The massive demobilization plan has yet to get underway, but
the government has been seeking advice from non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) on finding a role for tens of thousands of
jobless troops.

Queen Noor, who arrived in landmine-ridden Cambodia on Sunday
as a flag-bearer for the international campaign to ban landmines,
praised the Cambodian government for its May signing of the
Ottawa anti-landmine treaty before setting off for a center
providing artificial limbs for mine victims.

"We can see the smiles and feel the hope that people have
because of the care they are receiving that enables them to lead
productive lives and face the future with a great deal of
confidence," she told reporters.

However the U.S.-born Queen Noor, touring southeast Asia with
the co-Nobel Peace prize winning Landmine Survivors Network, was
quick to brush aside comparisons with the late Princess Diana.

"I don't see it that way," she said. "I see myself as one of
many of the world's people committed to the eradication of anti-
personnel mines. There are many people in the world working to
that end."

The queen is also scheduled to meet with King Norodom
Sihanouk, before heading for the historic ancient Khmer city of
Angkor Wat where the surrounding jungles remain littered with
mines.

Every month close to 100 people are killed or maimed from the
millions of unexploded ordnance and landmines left over in
Cambodia from the 30 year civil war.

Cambodia's parliament in May voted to sign the Ottawa treaty,
which prohibits the production, use, stockpiling and transfer of
the devices. However military sources say vast stockpiles of
mines have yet to be destroyed.