MINESWEEPING IN B&H
MINES SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD
AIM Sarajevo, November 25, 1999
Trying to catch a ball, which hopped into shrubs in the yard of a nearby-demolished house, a boy M.I. stepped on an unexploded mine and lost both his legs. Today, he spends his days sitting on the grass sadly watching his friends playing ball and running on the field.
According to assessments there are currently over 1,000,000 (one million) unexploded mines all over B&H which can be activated in the course of the next 50 years if they are not removed. Until this year, each month there were as many as 50 mine accidents - i.e. explosions of hidden mines
- in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That practically means two explosions each day. Until now several hundred of people lost their lives and many more were injured in these accidents. According to statistics, now 10 or less such accidents happen each month.
The process of minesweeping in B&H was initiated in 1996 and the area of over 1,6 million square meters has been cleared. This year alone, the area of some 600 thousand square meters of territory was cleared, but there are still mines along the 14 thousand kilometres of confrontation lines, which divided armies in B&H, i.e. 3 thousand, square kilometres of territory have not been inspected yet. Most of these mines are planted on over 30 thousand minefields, mostly on locations which served as demarcation lines during the war, out of which only some 50-60 percent have been registered and marked. According to statistical organisations dealing with the problem of mine clearing, a typical victim of hidden mines is a 30 years old farmer who is also the sole family breadwinner. According to the media reports children are second on the list of most frequent mine victims!
Today three centres, successors of the UN Mine Action Centre (UNMAC), are actively working on the removal of mines in B&H: the Bosnian - Herzegovinian Centre and two MACs (Mine Action Centres) in two entities, which are executive bodies of the State Mine-Removal Agency. In addition to 2,000 trained mine-removers, out of which 500 are permanently employed, several national and a number of international minesweeping agencies are also engaged in this task. The minesweeping agency to be engaged is usually selected in consultation with the Mine-Removal Agency and donors, which occasionally earmark their funds for the mine- clearing of a specific region.
In addition to professional mine-removers, who are usually hired by minesweeping agencies or donors, members of the B&H entities' armies are also engaged for this task. There is an evident disproportion between the wages these two categories of minesweepers receive. While professional mine-removers get good wages according to Bosnian standards (between 1,200 and 1,400 German marks), members of the Army engaged in mine-clearing get only some DEM 200-300, and very irregularly. That is why the commanding officers of Stabilisation Forces in B&H have appealed to all B&H Governments to ensure the payment of good and timely wages to mine-cleaners, as well as to pay accident insurance for them.
But, in mine-clearing as in any other business, because mine-clearing is without any doubt a business, there are many games when it comes to competition. Thus, the papers frequently wrote about enormous sums paid to minesweeping agencies for clearing the already covered areas. But, as both the money as well as mines to be cleaned in B&H have grown scarce and the World Bank and the UNHCR have stopped their donations and since the area of some 1,6 million square meters has been cleared by now - there are no more such stories. But, in all fairness, it is a fact that in the first two years the mine-cleaning firms have been cleaning the mines on the territory which was already cleared immediately after the signing of the Dayton Accord, by the armies that had planted them.
Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina is very valuable for the world when it comes to new achievements in mine-removal technology. It's a meeting place of all world mine-clearing experts where they exchange know-how, promote standards and technology of the equipment required for minesweeping operations. Representatives of the B&H MAC should meet with producers of mine-clearing equipment so that they could join forces in improving the mine removing technology and equipment. The equipment used in B&H mostly came from war theatres in Angola and Cambodia and was totally inadequate. The Bosnian terrain demanded certain modification of equipment so that, according to international experts engaged here, the technology that is applied in B&H is much more advanced than any other used in the world.
Currently, the price of mine-cleaning for one square meter has dropped to DEM 2.70. It used to be DEM 500. However, this seems to be the bottom line, as any further price cut would reduce the safety, which is already low in this line of activity. Since 1996 there have been 64 minesweeping accidents in B&H. Out of this number, "only" ten happened this year. The most frequent cause is the so called PROM mine, which mine-clearing experts say is the most dangerous. "Apart from PROM, accidents happen because mine-cleaners are fed up with their work and only care for the profit. They have grown too self-confident," explained Filip Filipovic, Director of the B&H MAC. Since mines in B&H were mostly planted during 1992 and 1993 and are being cleared now, some five or six years later, this is no easy task: "You have to understand the mines. They were planted by soldiers who used them to stop and harm the other side. Now, when a reverse process is used and we try to detect them, it is very hard to discover them. The available technology is not sufficiently advanced and accidents happen".
"There is also the human factor - people who clear the minefields are not infallible. On the one hand, mines are hard to detect, and on the other you have the human factor", told us Eddie Banks, expert advisor of the State Mine-Removal Agency. After minesweeping accidents mine-clearing companies, the authorities and the Army exerted pressure on MACs all over B&H. They demanded the withdrawal of mine-clearing certificates, exclusion of certain firms from the job, etc. Sometimes these pressures were justified, but frequently they are used for eliminating competition and ensuring profit. In the meantime, all three MACs have acquired sufficient experience so that after every accident they organise full investigation and determine its causes. Finally, both entities have very good mine-inspection teams which are responsible to their people who are the ultimate users of the territory and they should make no mistake in their work.
The removal of mines is a multifaceted obligation - an obligation towards the B&H population, a precondition of reconstruction, renewal and restitution of land, but also an obligation which is contained in the Ottawa Agreement according to which mines have to be removed in the next ten years. Those in charge of clearing the mines also believe that 99.9 percent of mines will be removed from the B&H territory by the year 2010, while the people will manage to detect the remaining 0.1 percent of the mines. But, it should be mentioned that several days ago a 300kgs heavy mine from World War II was discovered in Mostar and that there are many such mines from those times all over the world - as if they have a secret mission of constantly warning people of the dangers the mines and the war carry with them.
Rubina CENGIC
(AIM Sarajevo)
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