According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), a team
of 15 rats weighting
up to 1.2 kilograms were
imported from Tanzania through the help of a Belgian
non-governmental organisation .
The Director General of Cambodian Mine Action
Centre (CMAC), Heng Ratana, said that the rats
will be put to test. He noted that if the rats failed
the test, the programme would be canceled.
Ratana pointed that the success recorded by countries
such as Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola in using
rats to sniff landmines and tuberculosis informed the
choice.
He stressed that the rats would be trained by experts
in the northwestern Siem Reap province. However one
of the rodents has died due to change of climate
conditions. The training of the rodents is expected to
begin over the next few weeks.
“They will test the rats in actual landmine
fields.“At this stage, it is too early to say if we
can use the rats,” Ratana asserted.
He further stated two Cambodian mine experts had
been trained in Tanzania and they were expected to
also train colleagues on the use of rats to detect
mines.
he Kingdom was enmeshed in war from 1959 to 17
April 1975. The is reportedly to be the most heavily
bombed and mines countries in the world.
Unexploded mines have been said to have killed close
to 20,000 people and wounded more that figure since
the war ended in 1979.
Official data from the Kingdom authority said 154
were killed in 2014 while about 111 people have so
far lost their lives or sustained serious injuries in
2013.
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