The completion of mine clearance in Pozega-Slavonia County was marked in the town of Pakrac on Monday, with Interior Minister, Davor Bozinovic (HDZ), presenting county prefect, Antonija Jozic (HDZ), with a certificate declaring that the county is free of land mines.

“In February this year, the situation with mines and explosive devices in Pozega-Slavonia County was presented, and it was said then that the county would be completely cleared of mines by the end of the year. The plan has been fulfilled,” Bozinovic said in an official ceremony on Monday.

He added that Croatia’s know-how and abilities in mine clearance and the “organization of mine countermeasures” have been recognised by countries in Europe and around the world that have problems with leftover landmines, such as Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Syria.

Director of the Civil Protection Directorate, Damir Trut, said that 42.14 square kilometers have been cleared of mines in the county since 1998, while 51.3 square kilometers “excluded from mine-suspected areas” by a technical survey and a general and supplementary survey. Trut added that over 1,700 explosives left over from the war were found and destroyed during the mine clearance process in the county, 397 of which were land mines and explosive devices and 1,344 un-detonated pieces of ordnance.

The Interior Ministry reported that since 1998, around 7 billion kuna has been spent on mine clearance from all sources of funding and that since 2015,  mine clearance has largely been financed by EU grants. Currently, they amount to €184 million, which is almost 20 percent of the total invested funds for mine clearance operations.

They said that mine clearing in Croatia is expected to be completed by March 2026, “in accordance with the obligations of the Ottawa Convention.”

According to the ministry’s data, since 1996, there have been 606 casualties of landmines in Croatia, 204 of whom were fatal. The last death was recorded in March this year in Karlovac County, during an illegal border crossing, while the last death of a mine-clearing technician occurred in 2016 in the Zadar hinterland.

Suspected mine areas are still an obstacle to economic growth and the complete normalization of life in six of counties, 29 cities and municipalities. There are still 168.4 mine-suspected square kilometres in those counties, with slightly more than 13,500 explosives left over from the 1991-95 war.