The Non-Governmental Organization Norwegian People’s Aid handed 20 metal detectors to the Mine Action Battalion to the BiH Armed Forces within the Plan for strengthening capacities of the Mine Action Battalion for 2014.
The Norwegian Ambassador to BiH Vibeke Lilloe said that today’s donation is just part of a successful and long-term cooperation which they have with the BiH Armed Forces via the Norwegian People’s Aid.
She added that Norway has already donated four million Euros of aid for flood affected areas of which one part was intended for removing mines in the area of Brčko and she added that she will continue to support the work of the Norwegian People’s Aid and the Mine Action Battalion of BiH AF.
The BiH Deputy Defense Minister Marina Pendeš emphasized that the BiH AF are already giving significant contributions in demining activities but the last floods caused a shifting of mine fields and some areas which were demined before will have to undergo the same process.
“This aid means a lot to us because we will not have to allocate funds for this equipment from the budget which is not big enough for the total capacities of the BiH AF and I thank the Kingdom of Norway and their Ambassador in BiH for the generous help which they provided to us for many years,” said Pendeš.
General of the BiH Armed Forces Ivica Jerkić emphasized that this aid is very important considering that this aid is of great significance considering their existing capacities especially when it comes to the most modern detectors which differentiate metals from minerals.
He specified that they demined one fifth of the land so far and around 70,000 people returned to areas which had mines removed.
Regional Director of the Norwegian People’s Aid Darvin Lisica said that they removed the second most mines after the Mine Action Battalion of the BiH Armed Forces and they will secure another demining device for the Mine Action Battalion in the next month or two.
The Norwegian People’s Aid is a non-governmental and non-profit organization which was founded by the Norwegian labor movement in 1939.
In the last 20 years, they aided BiH by constructing refugee settlements, psycho-social aid, reconstructing settlements, regional program of the development of civil society and media and mine action.
From 2010 until present, that organization donated, among other things, 60 metal detectors and 12 magnetic locators, one GPS device, 54 protective vests and 300 protective visors and 18 mine detection dogs to the Mine Action Battalion of the BiH Armed Forces
(Source: Fena/ Photo source.ba)
