Cambodian farmers risk lives for rice as US aid freeze affects clearing of landmines mortars

Tboung Khmum, Cambodia – Eleven-year-old Yeat Saly lies in a hospital bed, a piece of shrapnel lodged in his forehead – one of the many injuries inflicted by an old mortar he found near his village in Cambodia.

Parts of the kingdom are still littered with unexploded ordnance (UXOs) from decades of conflict, but US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze virtually all American aid has forced many long-running projects to clear the deadly debris to grind to a halt.

Villagers now fear for themselves and their children unless a way is found to keep removing the leftover landmines, mortars and other lethal munitions scattered across the countryside.

Yeat Saly was herding his cows outside his village in Tboung Khmum province on Feb 5 when he found a metal object by a rubber tree.

“I thought it was just a piece of metal. I threw it, then it exploded into a ball of flame,” he told AFP from a hospital bed. “A piece of shrapnel is still in here,” he said, touching his forehead.

He is receiving treatment for injuries to both his legs and body at a hospital in Tboung Khmum.

“I was so frightened, my ears could not hear anything. Blood was spraying from my forehead, and I rode a motorbike (back home) with one hand blocking the blood,” he said.

Deadly US legacy

Much of Cambodia’s unexploded ordnance is a legacy of US operations during the Vietnam War.

Then-president Richard Nixon ordered a clandestine bombing campaign over swathes of Laos and Cambodia, which helped fuel the rise of the Khmer Rouge.

After more than 30 years of civil war ended in 1998, Cambodia was left as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

Injuries and deaths from war remnants are still common, with around