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Serbia

Last Updated: 09 August 2011

Mine Action

Contamination and Impact

Serbia has a relatively small mine problem confined to its southern border with Kosovo but also contends with a much larger problem of cluster munition remnants, unexploded aircraft bombs, rockets, and other types of unexploded ordnance (UXO).[1]

Mines

Serbia’s mine problem is a legacy of the armed conflict associated with the break up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. A general survey completed by the Serbian Mine Action Centre (SMAC) in 2002 found minefields with a mixture of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines covering a total of 6.2km2 in Sid municipality on the border with Croatia. After seven years of survey and clearance operations Serbia completed clearance of mines on the border with Croatia on 10 November 2009.[2]

However, Serbia has stated repeatedly that it has not completed clearance of all mines and that it needed to survey areas on the border with Kosovo, where it received information at the end of 2009 that mined areas might remain.[3]

SMAC, supported by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) and the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), completed a survey of the area in March 2011 that identified a total of 3.8km² of hazardous area in the municipalities of Bujanovac and Preševo.[4] The survey differentiated four hazard levels and NPA estimated that 2.66km² will be released through non-technical survey and 1.17km² through mechanical ground preparation and manual clearance.[5]

Cluster munition remnants

Serbia has a significant problem with cluster munition remnants resulting from NATO air strikes in 1999. According to Serbia, NATO cluster munitions struck 16 municipalities (Brus, Bujanovac, Čačak, Gadžin Han, Kraljevo, Knić, Kuršumlija, Leposavić, Niš city-Crveni Krst, Niš city-Medijana, Preševo, Raška, Sjenica, Sopot, Stara Pazova, and Vladimirci).[6]

After reinvestigating a 30km2 area identified as suspect by a 2008 NPA survey, SMAC confirmed 290 areas as hazardous over an estimated total of 14.9km2, with 110 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) affecting an estimated total of 6.1km2 still to verify. SMAC planned to complete survey of the unverified areas by the end of 2011 and said in June 2011 it expected the total area of contamination would ultimately amount to about 15km2.[7]

The NPA survey completed in November 2008 identified 28 local communities with about 162,000 inhabitants affected by cluster munition remnants. The assessment found that 88,000 people lived in the immediate vicinity of a suspected area and were exposed to daily risk. Of these, two-thirds live in Duvanište, a suburb of the city of Niš. NPA found that unexploded submunitions mostly block agricultural land (one-third of the total suspect area), reconstruction of community infrastructure and utilities (19.9%), or impede the rehabilitation of housing (14.2%).[8]

Other explosive remnants of war

NATO air strikes in 1999 also scattered unexploded bombs across Serbia. At the June 2011 Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, Serbia stated that some 64 unexploded aircraft bombs or rockets weighing up to 930kg can be found at 44 locations at depths of up to 20 meters in the ground, as well as in the beds of the Danube and Sava rivers.[9] SMAC has identified 12 SHAs covering a total of 6.6km2, mainly in rivers and riverbanks.[10] By June 2011, 3.9km2 of suspected area of Danube river near Novi Sad and Beska had been searched, as had the Sava river near Belgrade.[11]

An explosion at a Ministry of Defense ammunition storage area in Paraćin on 19 October 2006 resulted in contamination of surrounding areas with UXO and led to classification of Paraćin and Ćuprija as SHAs. SMAC estimated that a total of 6km2 was still suspected to be contaminated by UXO as of end 2010.[12] Officials informed the Monitor that at the time of explosion approximately 700 PROM-1 antipersonnel mines were stored in the facility, which may now be scattered around the area.[13]

Serbia also has to deal with large quantities of naval mines and other items of UXO that were aboard German World War II-era vessels which sank in the Danube river, in the vicinity of Prahovo, in 1944. The position of the sunken vessels and UXO was pinpointed in a general survey of the area in 2006, which identified 22 war vessels with sea mines and other items of UXO found on four of them.[14]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

Body

Situation on 1 January 2011

National Mine Action Authority

Government of Serbia

Mine action center

SMAC

International demining operators

NGO: NPA

Commercial: DOK-ING razminiranje, Enigma, UXB Balkans, EMERCOM

National demining operators

Commercial: PMC Inzenjering, Saturnia

SMAC was established on 7 March 2002. The Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries passed in August 2004 identified the center as a legal independent entity (not part of a ministry), and made it responsible for humanitarian demining, the collection and management of mine/UXO-related information (including casualty data), and for surveying SHAs. It also has the mandate to plan demining projects, conduct quality control, monitor operations, ensure implementation of international standards, license demining organizations, and warn the population about mine/UXO dangers.[15]

SMAC does not conduct demining directly or employ deminers but conducts survey of areas suspected to be contaminated by mines, cluster munition remnants, or other explosive remnants of war (ERW). Demining is conducted in accordance with international standards by commercial companies and NGOs, which are selected through public tender procedures executed by the ITF.[16]

Serbia does not have a strategic plan for solving its mine/ERW problem, but produces annual plans that are approved by the government. Planning mostly depends on available funding.[17]

Land Release

Serbia reported that it released a total of 1.43km2 in 2010, including cluster munition clearance of 0.84km2 and 0.59km2 of battle area clearance (BAC).[18]

Five-year summary of clearance[19]

Year

Mined area cleared (km2)

Battle area cleared (km2)

2010

0

0.59

2009

1.68

0.53

2008

1.09

1.07

2007

1.04

0.31

2006

0.64

0.88

Total

4.45

3.38

Survey in 2010

Six surveyors (two NPA teams and one SMAC team) started a survey on the border with Kosovo in April 2010; by June 2011 it had identified 17 minefields and a suspected mined area totaling 3.8km2.[20] The survey found contamination consisting of random mines and improvised explosive devices that are believed to be victim activated.[21]

Suspected contamination has affected seven communities in Bujanovac municipality and three in Preševo municipality with a total population of 4,692 people. Ten people died and nine were injured in mine accidents between 2000 and 2007, but no accidents have occurred in the last three years.[22] Mined areas mainly block access to forest (89%) and agricultural land (8%).[23]

NPA’s 2008 survey of areas affected by cluster munitions found 15 municipalities affected by suspected contamination totaling 30.7km2.[24] A second phase of the survey, which started in January 2009 and which focused on preparing clearance tasks, identified a 16th municipality affected by submunitions.[25]

Mine clearance in 2010

No mine clearance took place in Serbia during 2010, because survey teams had not completed the preparation of clearance tasks.[26] 

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Serbia is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2014.

Serbia previously stated that it expected to complete clearance of mined areas in 2008, later postponed to 2009,[27] but by the end of 2009 it had obtained new information about mined areas along the border with Kosovo.[28] At the June 2011 Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, Serbia confirmed it had completed clearance of all mined areas on the border with Croatia but still needed to complete survey and clearance of the areas bordering Kosovo.[29] However, Serbia also stated that it expects to complete all clearance by its Article 5 deadline.[30]

Since the start of demining operations in 2003, Serbia has reported releasing a total of 6.2km2 of suspected mined areas, destroying in the process 3,997 antipersonnel mines, 842 antivehicle mines, and 300 items of UXO.[31] Serbia released 5.8km2 of the total through clearance and 0.4km2 through technical survey.[32]

Clearance of cluster munition contaminated areas in 2010

During 2010, four demining organizations with a total of 151 clearance personnel worked on clearing cluster munition remnants in Serbia: PMC Inženjering, DOK-ING razminiranje, Enigma, and UXB Balkans. Those four organizations released a total of 0.84km2 of SHA,[33] more than in 2009 but still less than the amount released in 2008. The slow pace of clearance is explained by lack of funding. The price of cluster munition clearance in 2010 varied between €0.85 (US$1) to €1.2 ($2) per m2 depending on location.[34]

Cluster munition clearance in 2010[35]

Operator

Area cleared (km2)

No. of unexploded submunitions destroyed

PMC Inzenjering

0.12

6

DOK-ING razminiranje

0.14

1

Enigma

0.12

2

UXB Balkans

0.43

4

Totals

0.81

13

Battle area clearance in 2010

A joint demining venture between Russia’s Emercom and Serbia’s Saturnia employing 24 deminers worked on two BAC tasks in the area of Paraćin in 2010.[36] Since 2009, when Emercom started clearing the area around the munitions depot, its deminers have cleared 1,253 items of UXO from three locations with a total area of 1.4km2. This includes 0.59km2 cleared in 2010 with Saturnia.[37]

Battle area clearance in 2010[38]

Operator

BAC (km2)

No. of UXO destroyed

Emercom

/Saturnia

0.59

522

Totals

0.59

522

Quality management

SMAC and the police each have two quality assurance (QA) inspectors. During 2010, they made 35 QA visits to the sites on seven projects.[39]

Safety of demining personnel

No demining accident was reported in 2010.[40]

Other Risk Reduction Measures

There is no risk education program in Serbia, although, as noted above, SMAC is responsible for warning the population about mine/UXO dangers.[41] SMAC reports that marking is conducted during survey. For that purpose, it developed a new bilingual UXO/submunition warning sign in Serbian and Albanian in 2008.[42] A total of 250 new UXO/submunition warning signs were placed in cluster munition affected areas during 2009 and 300 during 2010.[43]

SMAC survey teams conduct community liaison during survey activities to obtain information about any mine, submunition, or other UXO problem in the community. Demining organizations are also expected to inform communities about their operations and the results of clearance activities.[44]

 



[1] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011; and interview with Petar Mihajlović, Director, and Slađana Košutić, International Cooperation Advisor, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[2] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Annex I: Suggested table for States Parties that have reported mined areas under their jurisdiction or control; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[5] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 23 June 2010; and email from Emil Jeremic, Regional Director, NPA, Serbia, 3 August 2011.

[6] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[7] Ibid.

[8] NPA, “Report on impact of unexploded cluster submunitions in Serbia,” Belgrade, January 2009, pp. 43, 47.

[9] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[10] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[11] Ibid., 25 March 2011.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Interview with Capt. Marko Mojašević, Arms Control Inspector, Ministry of Defense, in Geneva, 4 June 2008.

[14] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[15] “Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries,” Official Gazette, 84/04, August 2004; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[16] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 28 March 2011.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011.

[21] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011; and telephone interview with Emil Jeremic, NPA, Serbia, 1 August 2011. 

[22] NPA “Report on the impact of landmines in South Serbia,” undated but 2011, p. 28.

[23] Ibid.

[24] NPA, “Report on impact of unexploded cluster submunitions in Serbia,” Regional Office for South East Europe, January 2009, pp. 9, 69.

[25] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[26] Ibid., 25 March 2011.

[27] Statement of Serbia, Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, Mine Ban Treaty, 27 November 2009.

[28] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 23 June 2010; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[29] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[30] Ibid., 25 March 2011.

[31] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011.

[32] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[33] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 28 March 2011.

[34] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011. Average exchange rate for 2010: €1=US$1.3261. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 6 January 2011.

[35] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 28 March 2011; and telephone interview with Stoja Pejic, Program Manager, PMC Inzenjering, Belgrade, 2 August 2011.

[36] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 28 March 2011.

[37] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[38] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 28 March 2011.

[39] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[40] Ibid.

[41] “Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries,” Official Gazette, 84/04, August 2004; and SMAC, “Solving Mine Clearance Problems in the Republic of Serbia,” Belgrade, 26 February 2008.

[42] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.

[43] Telephone interview with Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 10 August 2010; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.

[44] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.