Demining in Croatia

It's estimated that almost one million mines were laid in Croatia alone by the time the wars in the former Yugoslavia ended in 1995. Both Croat and Serb forces used them as offensive and defensive weapons.

For the Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC), military maps detailing the many frontlines during the war in Croatia are crucial for the center's work.

"We got many of these maps from the Croatian army," said Sandi Šaban, head of the scan center at CROMAC headquarters. "We have a lot of maps with minefields drawn on them."

The maps are an essential source of information on the position of mines -- back then, during hostilities, as well as today. Šaban said that the accuracy of these wartime maps depends very much on the individuals who drew the symbols. Maps are therefore scanned, and then given co-ordinates. They can subsequently be overlaid with other information, for example, data collected from present-day survey teams.

Today, around 1,150 square kilometers are still classified as mine suspected areas, containing around 240,000 mines and perhaps the same number again of unexploded ordnance.

The cost of saving lives is high

From 1998, when CROMAC was established, until the end of 2005, the center has spent more than 255 million Euros ($324 million) on locating and clearing mines. More than half of that money has come from the government.

But over the years, the EU has also contributed to those funds. In 2004, for example, the European Commission donated two million Euros to mine clearance in Croatia, one of the largest of the international donations.

Demining costs an average of 1.30 Euros per square meter. The price depends on several factors such as the terrain, accessibility and the density of the minefield. It perhaps doesn't sound like much, but the figure belies the training and the nerves behind the process.

Demining is an explosive, but exciting task

Much of the demining work is manual and the work is tendered out to private companies on a commercial basis. It is anything but an easy task.

"It's very difficult and even irritating," said Zoran Kulić, team leader of the demining company Ru-Ru Deminers. "You need frequent breaks." Deminers are only allowed to work when the temperature is between zero and 26 degrees Celsius and when it's dry. Otherwise, the cold affects the agility of their fingers. In the heat, sweat might run into their eyes.

A lapse in concentration can mean the difference between life and death. Deminers need to be in good shape, physically and psychologically, Kulić said. Since 1991, a total of 48 deminers have been killed. Ironically, Kulić was involved in the laying of mines during the war when he was an engineer in the Croatian army.

"It was difficult then, it's difficult now. But the motive is different," Kulić said. "Today, our motive is a financial reason. But at the end of the day, everything is the same. If you knew how to lay them down professionally, you will know how to remove them professionally."

Applicants need to pass a seven-week course organized by the police academy. The reward is around 500 Euros a month -- and sometimes a couple of hundred more under the table, which gets companies out of paying for accident insurance and the like. It's not much, considering the risks, but Kulić said there's something about demining.

"It's excitement, adrenalin. If you smell explosives once, you'll never get rid of it," Kulić said. "You're addicted to it. Normal people think we're crazy. But no, we're not."

Campaigns throw light on the mine problem

Mines don't only attract those trying to clear them, though. CROMAC has therefore set up a mine awareness program.

Lilijana Čalić-Žmirić, an advisor on the program, said 14 people were killed in mine incidents in 2004. Last year, there were just four fatalities and 13 people were injured.

Čalić-Žmirić said children are particularly at risk. Various projects have been established to educate them about the dangers of touching suspicious objects and to report suspected mines to the police. Theater plays with interactive singing and dancing have proved particularly successful.

"For example, one of them is called 'Ne Ne Mines,' which means 'No No Mines' or 'No No Not Us.' It's a play on words," Čalić-Žmirić said. "This show was very successful. In one city two years ago, several days after children saw that play, they found a plastic bag full of mines near the main road and they went straight to the police station, and reported it, singing Ne Ne Mines, Ne Ne Mines."

Agricultural land and forests pose a challenge for deminers

One of the most heavily mined areas of Croatia is the region around Osijek, near the border with Serbia. The countryside here is punctuated with taped off areas and red signs bearing a skull and crossbones.

After the war, the priority was to clear urban areas of mines and booby traps, such as houses and schools, as well as infrastructure facilities, for example, power plants, roads and pipelines. What remains to be cleared is mostly agricultural land and, toughest of all, forests.

According to Nikola Krešo, deputy head of CROMAC's office in Osijek, the most destructive mine is the antipersonnel PROM 1.

"It's made of solid metal, buried in the ground and activated by a trip wire or blast," Krešo said. "When it's triggered, the bottom splits from the top, which jumps up about a meter high and explodes around waist level. So it kills immediately."

Croatia needs more financing to achieve its goal

Croatia has financed most of its demining program itself. But that hasn't put the brakes on its ambitions. According to its current mine action program, the country wants to be mine free in 2009.

It's an ambitious target and even members of CROMAC are unsure if that goal can be met. Money will be a major factor. At least 300 million Euros will be needed to achieve this aim.

CROMAC will be looking to the government, the World Bank, public companies and other donors to supply that money. There's no doubt that the European Commission will be on that list as well.