Ratification Status: Ratified ( 8 September 1998 )
Estimated Mined Area: 2.100 km2
Estimated Number of Mines: 670.000
Landmine Casualties (2002): 72
Funding Status: Recipient
Mine Action Funding (2002): $15.8 million
Bosnia and Herzegovina Landmine History
Beginning with Marshal Tito’s death in 1980 and accelerated with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) divided into five different countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), and the Republic of Macedonia.
These Balkan States have a complex history that extends beyond the scope of this report. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, background on events, armies, and peace treaties is needed as each have influenced the use and clearance of antipersonnel landmines in the country.
In March 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from the SFRY. Days later, fighting broke out and led to a war lasting over three and a half years. Armed hostilities officially ended in December 1995. During this period, nearly three million people were displaced and over 250,000 are reported dead or missing. UNICEF estimates war wounded at approximately 170,000 people. The war destroyed families, communities, infrastructure, and left the country littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance.
For the most part, hostilities during the war were conducted by three distinct armies: the Bosnian government army (ARBiH), the Bosnian Croat army (HVO) and the Bosnian Serb army (VRS). In the SFRY, all men were required to complete one year of military service in the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA). It can be assumed that many soldiers involved in the war had prior military training. JNA military doctrine relied heavily on the use of mines as a deterrent against invasion. Though engineering units were primarily responsible for these activities, all soldiers were taught mine warfare doctrine and techniques (laying, recording and neutralizing).
In March and May 1994, a peace agreement was mediated between the warring Bosnian Croats and the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and signed in Washington and Vienna. The Washington Agreement created the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under the agreement, the combined territory held by the Croat and Bosniak forces was divided into ten autonomous cantons. The cantonal system was selected to prevent dominance by one ethnic group over another.
The General Framework for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (also known as the Dayton Agreement) was signed on 14 December 1995. This agreement officially ended the war and, among other things, recognized that the country was comprised of two entities – the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter referred to as the Federation) and Republika Srpska (RS). (The information is provided to help the reader appreciate the challenges that face individuals living and working in this multi-ethnic country controlled by two separate entity governments.) It also established an Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL) and a four-kilometer-wide Zone of Separation (ZOS) between the two entities. The IEBL was the front line when the war ended. Most minefields are found along the IEBL and within the ZOS.
To oversee treaty implementation, an Implementation Force (IFOR) of 60,000 troops led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) arrived in the country in early 1996. In December 1996, IFOR’s duties were handed over to the NATO-led multinational Stabilization Force (SFOR). There are approximately 30,000 SFOR troops currently in the country. Among other duties, SFOR is responsible for training and supervising the demining teams for each entity army and helping to identify and assist with the destruction of weapon storage sites.
An additional body established to assist with legislation and treaty compliance is the Office of the High Representative. This office is instrumental in providing guidance and support for the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina in following not only the Dayton Agreement, but also the obligations outlined in the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
Key developments since May 2002: A national Landmine Impact Survey began in October 2002 and is due to be completed in December 2003. In May 2003, the area suspected to be contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance was estimated at more than 2,000 square kilometers. The Council of Ministers in April 2003 approved a demining strategy for BiH for 2002 to 2010, which has the objective of freeing BiH from the threat of mines and UXO by 2010. Six million square meters of land was cleared in 2002. Weapons caches containing landmines continue to be uncovered in BiH. In 2002, landmine/UXO incidents killed 26 civilians and injured 46 others, a decrease from the 87 casualties in 2001.
Recent History
The Republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina is still struggling to recover from three years of bloody inter-ethnic war during 1992-95.
Around 250,000 people died in the conflict between Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs – part of the break-up of Yugoslavia. A NATO-led Stabilization Force, S-For, remains responsible for safeguarding peace and stability.
Since then international administration has helped the country maintain a fragile peace but ethnic tensions persist and only crime and corruption have really flourished. Nearly half of the workforce is unemployed, the economy is flat and international aid is being reduced.
Analysts point to the fact that nearly a decade after the war little or nothing has been done to ensure that hundreds of thousands of displaced people can return home. Nearly two thirds of the country‘s young people are desperate to leave, according to a United Nations survey carried out in 2002.
The 1995 Dayton peace accord, which ended the Bosnian war, set up two separate entities, a Bosnian Muslim/Croat federation and the Bosnian Serb republic, Republica Srpska, each with its own president, government, parliament, military and police. Overarching these entities is a central Bosnian government and rotating presidency.
Critics of Dayton voiced fears that the two entities came too close to being states in their own right and that the arrangement reinforced separatism and nationalism at the expense of integration. Nationalist parties made strong gains in parliamentary elections in October 2002.
Dayton also established the Office of the High Representative, a role fulfilled by British politician Paddy Ashdown since May 2002. The representative has wide-ranging powers to impose decisions in cases where the authorities are unable to agree, or where political and economic interests are considered to be at stake.
Since the war ended in 1995, efforts to bring those accused of war crimes to justice have been only partially successful. The former Bosnian Serb president, Biljana Plavsic, surrendered voluntarily to The Hague tribunal and eventually pleaded guilty on one charge of crimes against humanity. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
However, two key Bosnian Serb suspects, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, are still at large. Bosnian Croat leader, Mate Boban, is said to have died in 1997, although there are rumours that his death was faked.
Geography
Location: South-eastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, Croatia and Former republic of Yugoslavia
Area: 51,129 sq km
Climate: hot summers and cold winters; areas of high elevation have short, cool summers and long, severe winters; mild, rainy winters along cost
Terrain: mountains and valleys
Natural resources: coal, copper, iron, bauxite, manganese, forest, chromium, lead, zinc, hydropower
People
Population: 3,989,018 (2003)
Population growth rate: 0,48%
Birth rate: 12.65 births/1,000 population
Death rate: 8.21 deaths/1,000 population
Life expectancy at birth: female 75 years, male 69 years
Ethnic groups: Bosniak 48%, Serb 37.1%, Croat 14.3%, other 0.5%
Religion: Muslims 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%, Protestant 4%, other 10%
Languages: Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian
Nationality: Bosnian
Literacy: NA%
Government
Country name: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Capital: Sarajevo
Government type: emerging federal democratic republic
Chief of State: Chairman of the Presidency Dragan Covic
Head of Government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers Adnan Terzic
International organization participation: BIS, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, Interpol, ILO, IMF, OAS, UN, WHO, WMO, WtoO
Economy
GDP per capital: 1,9 00 US dollars (2002)
Population below poverty line: n/a
GDP composition by sector: agriculture 13%, industry 40.9%, service 46.1%
Import commodities: machinery and transport equipment, industrial products, foodstuffs
Import partners: Croatia 17.1%, Italy 16%, Slovenia 13%, Germany 12.5%
Export commodities: miscellaneous manufactures, crude materials
Export partners: Italy 16%, Germany 16.8%, Croatia 11.3%, Switzerland 12.6%
Economic aid recipient: $650 million (2001)
Currency: marka
Reference
http://www.bbc.co.uk
http;//www.icbl.org
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
