ACTOR Sam Waterston, who played US journalist Sidney Schanberg in the Academy
Award-winning movie The Killing Fields, arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday (July 11)
in an effort to help highlight Cambodia's mine problem to the world.
Waterston is part of a five-day visit organized by the Washington-based Refugees
International. Others visiting are Refugees International board member James Kimsey,
founder of American Online, former congressman Chet Atkins, and Lionel Rosenblatt
and Yvette Pierpaoli of Refugees International.
The delegation will visit mine-clearing operations, and relevant Government, UN and
NGO representatives.
While focusing primarily on the problem of mines, the delegation will also look at
the plight of landless returnees and IDPs. "The lack of demined land available
for returnees, internally displaced and demobilized soldiers is complicating their
already difficult reintegration," according to an RI statement.