Sudden US funding freeze forces Cambodia to partially halt mine clearance

Cambodia’s decades-long effort to clear unexploded munitions has had to partially suspend operations after the United States suddenly halted funding, a minister said on Friday, calling on Washington to reverse the order.

Cambodia remains littered with unexploded bombs, many of which were dropped by American forces during the Vietnam war.

The US State Department has been a major backer of the effort to clean up the leftover ordnance, but last week US President Donald Trump ordered a sweeping, 90-day pause to foreign aid, which included suspending mine-clearance programmes across the world.

“It affects our mine clearance operation,” said Ly Thuch, a senior government minister and leading official in Cambodia’s Mine Action Authority.

The United States has been a “key partner” and provided around US$10 million a year to fund mine clearance in Cambodia, he said.

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“The US fund involves the deployment of more than 1,000 staff members and deminers,” he said.