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Bugs Bunny to Help Warn Cambodians on Risks From Landmines

(Daffy Duck also to aid U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Initiative) (380)
Following is the text of the Department of State May 14 media note on
Warner Brothers cartoon characters to be deployed in U.S. Humanitarian
Mine Action Initiative:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
May 14, 2003
MEDIA NOTE
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck Deployed to Cambodia on U.S. Department of
State Humanitarian Mine Action Initiative
The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
and the U.S. Agency for International Development have enlisted two
famous Warner Bros. characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, to deliver
public service messages on mine risk education and landmine survivors
social reintegration to the Cambodian people. These messages,
delivered in the Khmer language, will also test the usefulness of this
medium that combines animation and real local footage.
On Wednesday, May 14, 2003, the messages debut at the Vietnam Veterans
of America Foundation's Kien Khleang Physical Rehabilitation Center
near Phnom Penh and at the Cambodian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Subsequently, they will be broadcast on television throughout Cambodia
and distributed on videotape and DVD to the Cambodian Mine Action
Center and to local non-governmental organizations that work in mine
affected areas.
The messages feature an animated Cambodian landmine survivor, a young
boy named "Rith," who was specially created by Warner Bros. for this
project.
"This initiative has successfully demonstrated creativity and real
partnership between the U.S. Government, Cambodians and the
non-governmental and international organizations that assisted us in
carefully formulating both messages," remarked Lincoln P. Bloomfield,
Jr., the Special Representative of the President and Secretary of
State for Mine Action, who also serves as Assistant Secretary of State
for Political-Military Affairs.
Cambodia's Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Roland Eng,
as well as representatives from CARE, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Landmine
Survivors Network, UNICEF, World Education, and the U.S. Agency for
International Development's Leahy War Victims Fund were consulted
during the development process. Even the choice of Bugs Bunny from
Warner Bros. stable of characters was by design as the rabbit is
considered a kind and intelligent creature in Cambodian culture.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)