THOUSANDS OF KILOMETRES OF DEATH

Results of Mine War

AIM Banja Luka, 15 July, 1997

The culprits for deaths and injuries of the people in this space during the past war, in the large majority of cases are artillery, snipers and mines. It can therefore be said that the past war in B&H was an artillery-sniper-mine war.

Not a single day goes by without a new death or injury, either of a member of SFOR who are the most exposed, or citizens of B&H. For the time being, there are no precise statistical data about deaths and injuries caused by mines after the war.

According to information from a recent press conference about the problem of mines held in Brussels (Belgium), about 110 million mines lie hidden on our planet, out of which 7 million are in B&H. People are killed or injured by them in former Indochina, Korea, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, in the north of Iraq (Kurds), Chechnya, Afghanistan... In former Yugoslavia mines are also to be found in western Slavonia, eastern Slavonia, Baranja and western Srem and on the territory of what used to be called the republic of Serb Krajina. Mines have become a world problem in resolution of which the main role was undertaken by the USA. In December this year in Ottawa (Canada) an agreement will be signed by more than 100 states on the ban of manufacturing and use of all so far known types of mines.

It is almost impossible to say with any amount of certainty how many mines scattered around B&H there really are. The evaluations range from one million to seven million anti-infantry and anti-armoured vehicle mines. In analyses of these evaluations and the attempts to verify them, special attention should be paid to enormous exaggerations of the number of mines for commercial purposes. Postwar time is a time for business everywhere in the world, and the same is the case with B&H. Unfortunately, this is also the case with removal of mines. Manufacturing of mines is comparatively cheap (10 to 30 dollars a piece) while their removal is considerably more expensive (100 to 800 dollars a piece).

The warring parties have mostly planted mines on land along the separation lines and around them, and less in the interior of the territories they controlled. Mine fields mostly stretch along the former demarcation lines of the warring parties and in separation zones, on the territories of RS and the B&H Federation which are 2 kilometres wide. The army of RS planted mines with special care in the region of Brcko, Doboj and Sarajevo. That is the reason why IFOR and SFOR had losses in these parts of the country. In RS, a much smaller number of mines were planted along the right bank of the river Sava (125 km) and Una (90 km). The southern part of the inter-entity demarcation line is also very carefully mined. A good example is the zone controlled by the first corps of the army of RS, the length of which is 611 km. There is also the separation line between RS and Croatia and the Federation of B&H which is 1512 km long. If these lengths are multiplied by the width of the separation zone (2 km), it is possible to obtain the area of land covered with mines. For the "jurisdiction" of first corps, this area amounts to 1222 square kilometrse, and for the RS 3036 sq. km. The B&H Federation has a shorter inter-entity demarcation line which is 1387 km long. This means that B&H Federation has 2774 square kilometres of land under mines. All this put together means that only around the inter-entity demarcation line, there are almost six thousand square kilometres of land covered with the two main types of mines. If another one thousand square kilometres of land around Brcko, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Bihac, Bugojno, and the areas on which the army of RS had planted mines before abandoning them in summer 1995 (loss of 13 municipalities and 7 towns), it means that about seven thousand square kilometres in B&H are covered with mines.

Since about one million mines have been left on the territory of RS (just a minor portion has already been removed), about 9 billion dollars is needed for their removal. A single soldier can plant 30 towing or 60 anti-personnel mines. A platoon of soldiers (30 men) can lay 800 to 1000 tow mines a day, or 1600 to 2000 anti-personnel mines.

While removing mines, a soldier can search 6 to 10 square metres of land. Since it is necessary to pierce the land at the distance of every 2 to 3 cm (which is the best way to do it), it means that one square metre of land must be pierced 1200 times. This means that in an hour, a soldier can search only one square metre of land in order to be quite sure about it, or 6 to 10 square metres a day. Therefore, 30 soldiers (a platoon) can search 180 to 300 square metres a day.

It is much easier to remove mines when documentation about their planting is available. It is assumed that the army of RS has about 70 per cent of the documentation about the planted mines. This documentation was sent to SFOR. The greatest problem, of course, is the remaining 30 per cent the removal of which is extremely problematic.

For removal of mines, it is necessary to have money, time, trained personnel and adequate equipment. Apart from money, personnel and equipment were a permanent problem for the army of RS. Before demobilization (April 1996), the army of RS had trained personnel, but not enough adequate equipment. After demobilization, the army of RS was left without trained personnel, but got the necessary equipment from SFOR.

It is absolutely justified to insist that the army which planted mines remove them from its own territory. The army of RS made a plan of removal of mines for 1997. It should be carried out by the corps of the army of RS and its personnel trained in centres in Trebinje and Banja Luka. Various private agencies which have applied for removal of mines according to humanitarian standards are creating difficulties in the choice of personnel. Since they have the money, they have managed to engage the available personnel for their needs.

Since 27 April, 1997, the army of RS has engaged four teams (with 9 men in each) for removal of mines. It is assumed that as of 15 July, 12 teams with the total of 108 men will be engaged for the job.

Dragan D. Marcetic

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