17 March 2014
The Belgian demining
NGO APOPO, which is pioneering the use of mine-detecting rats in the former battlefields
of Cambodia, has received funding from the German government to expand its
mine-clearance work in the country. In November, the government gave the green
light for APOPO to begin testing highly skilled African Giant Pouched
Rats—nicknamed Hero Rats—on Cambodian soil. Hero Rats have achieved noted
success over the past four years in sniffing out thousands of mines and
unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Mozambique and Angola.
Over the past decade,
Germany has provided over $15 million to Cambodia to support mine clearance
operations. Mines and UXO have killed more than 19,000 Cambodians and injured
about 45,000 since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Landmines and
unexploded remnants of war killed 22 people and injured 111 more last year.
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