LAND OF MINES

Wednesday, May 26th @3:01AM

Kevin

Our Lao driver pulled over the minivan, threw our bags down from the roof and left the five of us at the border before driving away. We proceeded through customs and border control and processed our exit paperwork. It was then about a hundred yard walk to the Cambodian side. Once there, we got our passports stamped, made a quit run to the loo and were hurried into one of two minivans that waited on the side of the road. Our group of five was broken up as Idalis and I headed to one and the rest of the group to the other. I was relegated to the front seat. Our driver was short, stocky and presumably of Khmer decent considering his dark skin and flat nose. He drove for one and a half hours without saying a word and never taking his eyes off the road. For that matter, nobody in the minivan said a single word the entire time either. The road was completely empty barring an occasional car or moto, group of kids or wandering dogs. The ride was strange and I detected some level of tension and anxiety. Maybe it was the whole way the border crossing went down or the fact that, like us, everyone in van spent time reading up on and researching Cambodia's turbulent past. A past that only ceased to be violent and war torn within the last ten years.

The rich part of Cambodia's history centered around the thirteenth century when the Khmer empire all but ruled the majority of SE Asia. As a result of this great empire we are fortunate to be blessed with Angkor, one of the great wonders of the world. The disheartening part of Cambodia's history is far more recent and also is responsible for a legacy, one of fear, war and genocide. Like Laos and Vietnam, Cambodia was also a French territory. This ended in 1953 at the behest of Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk. In 1970, he was overthrown by the military as a result of his repressive policies. He fled to Beijing. Shortly thereafter, he was encouraged by the Chinese to affiliate himself with the then weak communist rebels known as the Khmer Rouge. This move proved to increase their popularity. Cambodia, due to its proximity, was also sucked into the war, perhaps reluctantly, as a result of the secret bombing by the United States shortly after the 1970 coup. It is estimated that a total of 500,000 tons of munitions were deposited in the country within 6000 raids. This attempt to flush out the communist failed miserably and after much interior conflict and warfare eventually resulted in the rise of the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge invaded and took the capital city of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975.

This was the beginning of a four year revolution that would be one of the most violent and deadly in the history of the world. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, Cambodia was transformed into an 'agrarian' society, inspired by Maoist philosophy. The entire capital city of Phnom Penh was evacuated, as were most major cities, by the Khmer Rouge forces and its inhabitants forced to march, mostly by foot, into the country side where they would begin their lives as farmers and peasants. A national uniform of black shirt and pants with a red sash was instituted. People who had never seen a farm were forced to work one. Slowly but surely, the Khmer Rouge began to weed out any person that was suspected as a threat to the 'Angkar', or institution. This included anyone who was educated, a professional, spoke a foreign language and even people who wore glasses, as they were considered intellectuals. Within the next four years, approximately 2,000,000 Cambodians would be killed in an attempt to purify the country of racial impurities, capitalism and western influences. Those who were considered the ideal citizens of renamed Kampuchea faired no better as famine, disease and malnutrition would also take their tole. In spite of the entire country working as an agrarian cooperative, food rations were inequitably distributed with the bulk of the harvests being traded to China in exchange for weaponry. It is estimated that nearly one fourth of Cambodia's entire population was decimated during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

In late 1978, Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia and were able to overthrow the Khmer Rouge and send them into the jungles along the Thailand border. The Vietnamese forces were the liberators of the Cambodian people. This did not conclude the conflict, as guerrilla warfare continued throughout the country by surviving Khmer Rouge forces. This fighting did not cease until the death of the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, in 1998.

The scars from these conflicts are still very fresh and the people of Cambodia continue to suffer post-war casualties in the form of land mines and live munitions. It is estimated that seven to nine million live mines still exist on Cambodian soil, though no one is sure of the actual numbers. This dilemma is far too real and one is advised to NEVER wander of the beaten path. We have even read that if you need to relieve yourself while driving, remain on the asphalt to do so. There is further evidence of this travesty in the form of an overwhelming amount of amputees, including mostly children and farmers. There is an evil paradigm in this country where the one force that can give you life, the harvesting of your crops for food, can also kill you.




The good news is that there are countless NGO's (non-government organizations) located in Cambodia that are doing there best to assist the various needs of people living in a post-war world. We were even fortunate enough to visit the Cambodian Land Mine Museum, where Cambodian Aki Ra is also working to make a difference. Aki was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge and at 11 years old was assigned to the laying of land mines. Near the end of the conflict, he was drafted by the invading Vietnamese forces and at the age of fourteen, helped to fight and topple the Khmer Rouge. Today, he works feverishly to try and recover all the land mines that he was forced to lay and many others. He can disarm and remove up to 26 mines per hour and up to 100 square meters a day. It can cost up to $500 dollars to remove one land mine. It can cost as little as $3 to manufacture one. With the help of his wife, they also run a home for child victims of land mine accidents. Aki is a true hero of war. There are also other people working very hard to rid the world of land mines. There is the OTTAWA convention for the suspension of the manufacture and use of all forms of explosive mines. Over 155 countries have signed this treaty. To date, America has not signed the treaty (along with Russia and China) and states that the military wishes to continue with the use of land mines. Currently the US is laying land mines on the south side of the Korean border.

For more information, please visit... http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/