Good News Network · 13 days ago

Croatia Declared Landmine-free After More Than 2 Decades of Demining Efforts

After three decades of painstaking work that cost over one billion euros and claimed the lives of up to 60 demining personnel, Croatia has cleared the last of the 1.5 million landmines scattered across its landscape during the Yugoslav civil war. The achievement means "safer families, better development of rural areas, more farmland, and stronger tourism," as Interior Minister Davor Božinović declared, but it also represents something deeper -- "the fulfillment of a moral obligation to the victims of mines and their families." Nearly 107,000 mines and 407,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance were removed, often appearing as "shiny curiosities half-buried in the grass" that posed lethal threats especially to children. The victory required international support and the sacrifice of those who gave their lives "to make their country a safe place for generations to come."