Croatian region calls for EU aid on landmines

The EU should step up aid for demining activities in Croatia, where almost a 1,000 square kilometers of suspected minefields still wait to be cleared - an effort which could take another 50 years at the current pace, an official from the most affected region told EUobserver.

"We speak on behalf of the 500 people who died after the war and the 1,500 who were injured by landmines. Our region remains the most affected one," Stjepan Ribic, the representative in Brussels of the Slavonia and Baranja region, stretching from the east of Croatia to its borders with Hungary and Serbia, said.

Mr Ribic fears that the central government in Zagreb is not a strong advocate of aid to the region, which has neither posh Adriatic coast resorts beloved by EU tourists nor the prominence of a capital city.

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