Many Bosnians don't want the British soldiers to leave their country....
Unease in Bosnia as UK troops head home
By Thomas Harding in Banja Luka
26/03/2007
British soldiers in Bosnia in 1995
Bosnia
Bosnia's deserted battlefields are the world's most densely mined and will take three quarters of a century to clear, the British commander said yesterday as troops pulled out of the former Yugoslavia after 15 years.
The legacy of a conflict that claimed 110,000 lives is still haunting a country coming to terms with the loss of the security that British troops have helped to provide. As they pull out, an air of profound unease permeates the atmosphere.
A Bosnian soldier searches for land mines
The UN estimates that it costs £5 to lay a mine and £150 to recover it. In the last year the authorities have been able to clear just seven square miles, at a cost of £17 million. There is still a huge amount of work to clear the further 1,400 square miles of mined land.
"The mine situation here is bad and we estimate it will take 75 years to completely clear the country," said Brig Chris Murray, the commander of British forces in Bosnia. "We have trained the de-miners and hope that the funding remains for them to continue a vital job."
Now, with British soldiers pulling out, the task of making safe 30,000 battlefields demands more local expertise. "Today Bosnia still suffers five casualties a month and it's especially worse when they start cutting back hedges and gardens," said Chief Technician Dave Lowe, a RAF explosive specialist sent to train Bosnians in de-mining.
"Unfortunately, mines are the best soldier - they don't need to sleep, they don't need feeding and they are never off-duty. And Bosnia mines are very good - being plastic and waterproof. They are as deadly today as when they were put down 15 years ago."
As the former Yugoslavia was a leading world producer of mines, the explosives were in an abundance when civil war broke out in 1992. The population was also extremely well versed in planting mines, having been taught in school - a legacy of Tito's paranoia about being invaded.
By training locals to deal with mines, the Army, which first deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992 as part of the UN force, hoped to provide comfort for a troubled population that was to lose the benefit of its protection.
Eight years ago, Taib Turkanovic, 61, felt safe enough to return to his devastated Muslim village deep in the Bosnian Serb heartland as a strong British force was on hand to deal robustly with any aggression. But the memories of surviving five months in a Serb-run concentration camp remain, and he is uneasy about the British departure.
"If I would live to 300 years I would never forgive the Serbs," he said. "I have been taken away from my home, my wife died, my daughter died, my father and sister died."
Aleksandar Salovic, a student, said he did not want the British troops to go. "I don't have a very positive opinion about them leaving because the current situation is not improving," he said. "The British soldiers prevented the fighting and preserved the future for us."
telegraph.co.uk
Unease in Bosnia as UK troops head home
By Thomas Harding in Banja Luka
26/03/2007
British soldiers in Bosnia in 1995
Bosnia
Bosnia's deserted battlefields are the world's most densely mined and will take three quarters of a century to clear, the British commander said yesterday as troops pulled out of the former Yugoslavia after 15 years.
The legacy of a conflict that claimed 110,000 lives is still haunting a country coming to terms with the loss of the security that British troops have helped to provide. As they pull out, an air of profound unease permeates the atmosphere.
A Bosnian soldier searches for land mines
The UN estimates that it costs £5 to lay a mine and £150 to recover it. In the last year the authorities have been able to clear just seven square miles, at a cost of £17 million. There is still a huge amount of work to clear the further 1,400 square miles of mined land.
"The mine situation here is bad and we estimate it will take 75 years to completely clear the country," said Brig Chris Murray, the commander of British forces in Bosnia. "We have trained the de-miners and hope that the funding remains for them to continue a vital job."
Now, with British soldiers pulling out, the task of making safe 30,000 battlefields demands more local expertise. "Today Bosnia still suffers five casualties a month and it's especially worse when they start cutting back hedges and gardens," said Chief Technician Dave Lowe, a RAF explosive specialist sent to train Bosnians in de-mining.
"Unfortunately, mines are the best soldier - they don't need to sleep, they don't need feeding and they are never off-duty. And Bosnia mines are very good - being plastic and waterproof. They are as deadly today as when they were put down 15 years ago."
As the former Yugoslavia was a leading world producer of mines, the explosives were in an abundance when civil war broke out in 1992. The population was also extremely well versed in planting mines, having been taught in school - a legacy of Tito's paranoia about being invaded.
By training locals to deal with mines, the Army, which first deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992 as part of the UN force, hoped to provide comfort for a troubled population that was to lose the benefit of its protection.
Eight years ago, Taib Turkanovic, 61, felt safe enough to return to his devastated Muslim village deep in the Bosnian Serb heartland as a strong British force was on hand to deal robustly with any aggression. But the memories of surviving five months in a Serb-run concentration camp remain, and he is uneasy about the British departure.
"If I would live to 300 years I would never forgive the Serbs," he said. "I have been taken away from my home, my wife died, my daughter died, my father and sister died."
Aleksandar Salovic, a student, said he did not want the British troops to go. "I don't have a very positive opinion about them leaving because the current situation is not improving," he said. "The British soldiers prevented the fighting and preserved the future for us."
telegraph.co.uk