20/02/2023 Croazia, (Hrvatska)
“If you ever come across anything suspicious like this item, please do not pick it up, contact your local law e enforcement agency for assistance”.
In Croatia, the mines from the conflict which lasted from 1991 to 1995 have not yet been cleared and continue to claim victims. The latest tragedy dates back to 15 January and took place near Mount Dinara, just over 40 km north of Split, in the Dalmatian hinterland. A 67-year-old hunter entered an area marked as “at risk of mines” and was killed by the explosion of a bomb. Between 1991 and 2021 , 2,017 people fell victim to mines and 524 were killed. In addition, 65 deminers died – and hundreds were injured – in the course of clearing operations. During the war, the whole area of Croatian Krajina was intensely mined, starting from 1991 with the birth of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (proclaimed on December 19, 1991 by the Croatian Serbs, with the centre of power in Knin, never recognised internationally) until August 1995 with the Oluja operation of the Croatian army. The following demining work was quite difficult: there were often no maps indicating the position of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, there were no resources to invest in demining, and the mined territories were often complex to clear. In Croatia, the first law dedicated to solving mine pollution dates back to 1996, when the United Nations mission in the country estimated the land to be reclaimed at 13,000 sq km (23% of the entire Croatian territory). Then, in 1998, the CROMAC (Croatian Mine Action Centre) was created with the task of coordinating all the initiatives to be able to comply with the Ottawa Convention signed in 1997 (on the ban on the use, storage, production, and transfer of anti-personnel mines and their destruction). On that occasion, the Croatian authorities had assured that they would complete the demining by March 2019, as also envisaged in the National Strategy for Demining 2009-2019 . But in 2018 the terms were extended to 2026.
Photo-Source: balcanicaucaso.org
Akcija „Manje oružja – manje tragedija“ i dalje je aktualna i građani mogu policiji nakon odluke o dragovoljnoj predaji, predati oružje koje ilegalno posjeduju bez straha od sankcija. Nakon poziva na broj telefona 192, stručno osposobljeni policijski službenici za protueksplozijsku zaštitu će doći na dogovorenu lokaciju i od građanina preuzeti oružje. Više informacija o spomenutoj akciji, može se dobiti pozivom na besplatan broj telefona 08008892.
Dear editors, Biography of a bomb is aimed at highlighting the danger caused by unexploded bombs. Moreover, the most important aspect is that we work completely non profit, raising awerness about this topic is what drives us. We apologize if we make use of pictures in yours articles, but we need them to put a context in how findings are done. We will (and we always do) cite source and author of the picture. We thank you for your comprehension
