This was said on Monday at a meeting of the prime minister's adviser on mine removal, Djuro Brodarac, and the director of the Croatian Mine Action Centre, Otto Jungwirth, with the head of Osijek-Baranja county, Kresimir Bubalo.
Bubablo said that 45 people had been killed and 120 wounded by mine explosions since the end of the war in 1995. He added that there was about 210 square kilometres of mine-suspected land in the county, which makes it the most mine-infested region in Croatia.
Bubalo cited as priorities the removal of mines from farmland and the Kopacki Rit nature park, particularly in view of last week's identification of a bird flu virus in Croatia.
Brodarac could not say how much money would be needed for de-mining the nature park, adding that it would depend on the priorities of the national crisis management committee monitoring avian influenza and on weather conditions.
Jungwirth warned about a decline in donations for mine clearance operations, stressing that it was unrealistic to expect all mine-suspected areas to be cleared by 2009 as provided for under the national mine removal plan, but that it was planned to to clear all minefields and farmland by that time.
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