The facts are horrifying: a million odd mines are still buried under the earth of this unfortunate and hardly existing country by the name of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to known facts, there are 2,300 square kilometres, out of the country's 53,000-square-kilometre territory, contaminated with landmines. This is the equivalent of a square with a 48-kilometre-long side densely covered with mines. However, normal life is much more difficult with these insidious killing devices buried all over the country, and especially dense in areas where the division lines between what the West cynically called "warring factions" took place. The aftermath is even more horrifying: from the time the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed till March 1, 1999 - when the Ottawa convention on banning the antipersonnel landmines was put in effect - 290 people were killed and 950 wounded by landmines: among them only an insignificant number of those who were not civilians.
"The landmine is a perfect soldier. You don't need to pay it, it doesn't need food or sleep. It is a professional killer," says Sandy Powell, the officer of the British Army who was sent to Banja Luka to advise the Republic of Srbska MAC (Mine Action Centre).

"Mines are soldiers who can be on guard for years, they don't need any replacement, and they just hang about in the soil killing regardless of the victim's race, nationality or religion," adds Sredo Vucanovic, the director of this centre, whose task is to demine 49 percents of the Bosnian territory, as much as it was carved out for the Serbian "entity" after the fait accompli, after the Dayton Agreement was signed. Around 120 deminers work for this centre, although another 5,000 of them could find enough work to do, according to Vucanovi