Project Fiche
Turning mine fields into safe areas
Continued existence of up to one million land mines and unexplosed ordnance in Bosnia and Herzegovina presents a major obstacle to normal resumption of life and economic activity across the country. Before any work can start on reconstruction of housing, major reconstruction projects such as roads and bridges, deminers have to be called in. The population will have to live with this problem for many years to come, therefore it is essential to develop and strengthen local demining capacities, fully trained and equipped to tackle this problem by themselves.
In order to support de-mining operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as strengthening and sustainability of de-mining capacities, as of 1996 up to date, the European Commission has provided approx. 23 million Euro under the OBNOVA, CARDS and Anti Personnel Landmines (APL) programmes for these operations including the procurement of related equipment and machinery.
The concrete results achieved to date by the Federal Civil Protection Administration (CPA) are some 3,700,000 m2 of land and 1,000 buildings cleared, and over 229,000 unexploded ordnances and some 21,500 assorted mines removed and destroyed. While the Republika Srpska CPA has disposed of around 191,000 unexploded ordnances, clearing 2,305,000 m2 and 850 buildings and mobilised for 42 quick response actions to save civilians.
The European Union will provide additional funding of 3,000,000 Euro to the Bosnia and Herzegovina de-mining programme in the period 2006 – 2008 from the Anti Personnel Landmines Budget Line (APL) while 1.5 million Euro have been allocated under the 2007 Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).