The Director of the BiH Mine Action Centre (BHMAC), Dusan Gavran, stated this during a press conference held today in Sarajevo. He said there are 1,500 square kilometres of suspicious surface in BiH. BHMAC estimate that approximately one third of this land, which is approximately 500 square kilometres, will require mine clearance.
The Director of BHMAC expects demining activities to be finished by 2017 or 2019, as per the agreed strategy; however, this is dependant upon funds being provided for this purpose. One of the key problems is to ensure the necessary funds, which were not sufficient to execute the annual plan during that phase.
During the year 45 million BAM was provided, which was 10 million less then planned and reflects the dynamics of the demining process in BiH. Gavran said that only 8 million BAM was provided from the State budget despite the Mine Action Strategy that foresaw 30 million BAM. The funds provided were used for the needs of BHMAC.
Three deminers were killed in 2009 and two were injured. As per information provided by BHMAC, in the first six months of the year 28 citizens were injured by landmines: nine of them fatally.
There are 35 companies in BiH accredited for demining: five governmental, 16 NGOs and 14 commercial. They employ 3,100 accredited deminers. This capacity is sufficient to demine 35 to 40 square kilometres annually.
The lack of funds resulted in a lack of jobs for certain companies who now work abroad in other countries of the region and also in Iraq, Afghanistan, Angola and the Sudan.
BHMAC projections for 2010 are similar to those for 2009. The plan is to clear 30 square kilometres of land and to reduce the surface of suspicious land by approximately 120 square kilometres.
In addition to BiH demining companies that operate on BHMAC projects the BiH Armed Forces, entity and Brcko District Civil Protection also conduct demining activities.
Source: FENA