CLEARING OF MINES BEGINS IN NORTHERN BOSNIAN ODJAK AREA

ODJAK, Aug 24 (Hina) - The clearing of mines along banks of the Sava river stretching for 27 kilometres between Bosanski Svilaj and Prud (Bosnia-Herzegovina's northern border with Croatia) was marked on Sunday with a mass in Bosanski Svilaj. The mass was served by Pavo Brajinovic, a parish priest from Prud. The mine-clearing process, of particular importance for returnees to the northern Bosnian Odjak area, will be performed by the Gianfranco Mela-owned ABC company from Florence, Italy, which engaged demobilized soldiers of the Croatian Defense Council to carry out the task. The seven-million-kuna-worth project is financed by the World Bank. Attending today's event were the manager of the mine- clearing project of the BH Federation, Damir Djakovic, the secretary of the Croatian government's commission for mine- clearing issues, Ante Rados-Peric, the manager of the ABCD mine- clearing company from Zagreb, Ivica Horvat, the head of the Odjak municipality, Slavo Bago, representatives of the Croatian Defense Council, the police and a mine-clearing centre from Osijek. (hina) ha 241828 MET aug 97