Cambodian international landmine activist Tun Channareth, who was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, has wrapped up a trip to the US, where he hoped to gather support for a petition for the US to ban the use of landmines and cluster munitions.

In an interview with VOA Khmer, Tun Channareth, who lost his leg to a mine in 1982, said at least 156 other countries have signed the international treaty to ban landmines, despite the failure of the US, China and Russia to do so.

Tun Channareth, a former soldier on the border who is now 51, was also awarded an honorary degree by Seattle University for his work to help landmine victims in Cambodia and his advocacy to have the weapons banned internationally.

“I have incorporated an agenda that is asking people in Seattle [and Washington state] to give their signature to push America, especially the US government, to agree to abolish landmines and cluster bombs,” he said.

The US funds programs to clear landmines and unexploded munitions, which is good, he said.

“What I critically want is for the US to hold the pen and sign, to agree to stop using [landmines and cluster munitions], destroy its existing stocks, and stop producing them,” he said. “This is what I really need.”

Tun Channareth said individual aid to victims is not enough without broader solutions to the landmine problem.

“To improve the lives of victims, it’s not just giving them wheelchairs or food,” he said. “But we need to clear their land and clear munitions in the hometowns, which are waiting to kill them.”

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Landmine Activist Pushes for US To Ban Weapons

Russian delegates from the two largest Russian airlines, Aeroflot Russian Airlines and S7 Airlines, will meet Cambodian Civil Aviation Authorities in order to seek the possibility of direct flights between Russia and Cambodia to be set to begin next year or 2011 at the least, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

“When we reach the agreement, the Russian civil aviation will officially allow the two popular airlines to fly to both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap,” Dilyara Borovi, Embassy Councilor, was quoted by the Post.

She added that the two airlines already service Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam directly from Russia. She added that connecting flights from Vietnam to Cambodia would also be discussed in the future.

According to the figures from the Ministry of Tourism, the number of Russian visitors increased from 12,885 to 13,861in the first 10 months of 2009, compared to the same period last year.

Dilyara Borovik, a counselor at the Russian Embassy, gave a speech at the an event to mark the 30^th anniversary of the Russian Cultural Center in Phnom Penh that the trade between the two countries for the first nine months of this year totaled US$32.3 million, a 28.7 percent increase over the same period last year, quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.

Ms. Borovik added that Cambodian exports to Russia make up 60 percent of trade between the two countries, with garments, agricultural products and seafood being the largest exported products.

In 2008, investment totaled US$600 million with businesses such as the Beeline mobile phone, said she.

“With the economic crisis this year, people are afraid to invest abroad especially if we don’t know the situation in our own country,” Ms. Borovik said.

Cheam Yeap, CPP lawmaker, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that “Heng Samrin plans to request the cancellation of loans used for the purchase of weapons during the 1980s. Cambodia requested debt-cancellation from Russia in 2006 and 2008, but was unsuccessful both times.”

Heng Samrin will also try to encourage more Russian investors to do business in Cambodia and will present a medal to Serge Mironov for promoting friendship ties between the parliaments of Cambodia and Russia, said Cheam Yeap, according to the Post.