Slovak President Donates Equipment to Slovene-Run Demining Fund

Bled, 31 May

Slovak President Rudolf Schuster has donated a remote-controlled demining machine to the Slovene-managed International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) on the sidelines of a two-day summit of 16 Central European presidents. This machine is Slovakia's first donation to the fund, and is worth some 190,000 dollars.

Upon handing the keys of the machine to ITF Director Jernej Cimpersek, President Schuster said that: "as a citizen of Slovakia, I'm not indifferent to the problems posed by the legacy of the Balkan war". He added that "an estimated two million mines were planted in the Balkans during the wars there, and these now prevent people from living normal lives". He thought that the international community is now working to solve this problem, and the ITF is an example of these efforts.

The machine, a Bozena 4, is a light demining machine resembling a small bulldozer. The ITF intends to hand the donated machine to the Croatian Demining Centre (HCR). Thus, Croatian President Stipe Mesic, who together with the other 14 visiting presidents attended the hand-over ceremony, used this occasion to thank his Slovak counterpart for the donation.

Weighing 4.3 tonnes and easily adaptable to rough terrain, the Slovakia-made Bozena 4 is used to clear small mine-scattered fields which are difficult to reach. Moreover, the use of Bozena 4 is considered very effective, and also safer for demining experts than manual demining machines. The donated machine will be the 20th Bozena demining machine used in the Balkans.

STA (Slovene Press Agency)

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