New U.S. Support: Additional $5.1 Million for Continued Mine Action and UXO Clearance

New support from the United States of America to Serbia in the field of conventional weapons destruction was announced today at the Innovation and Education Park of the Republic of Serbia Mine Action Centre, amounting to an additional $5.1 million.

The announcement was made during an event jointly organized by the Republic of Serbia Mine Action Centre and the Embassy of the United States of America, which was attended by President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić.

The event was hosted by Bojan Glamočlija, Director of the Mine Action Centre, while the new funding was officially announced by Alexander Titolo, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy.

The event was also attended by Tomaž Lovrenčič, Director of ITF – Enhancing Human Security.

The new funding will support conventional weapons destruction activities, including the clearance of areas contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO), as well as the continuation of mine clearance operations. This will bring total U.S. assistance to Serbia in this area to more than $34 million.

As part of the visit, the work of the Mine Action Centre was presented, along with the equipment and demining teams currently engaged in UXO clearance projects in the municipality of Rakovica.

A demonstration of deminers’ work was also conducted at the training ground of the Innovation and Education Park.

Work on the “Rakovica 3” and “Rakovica 4” projects began in July and August, respectively, while the “Rakovica 5” project is scheduled to commence in October.

The total contaminated area within the municipality of Rakovica covers approximately 1,820,500 square metres, or approximately 182 hectares.

Clearance operations are being carried out across different categories of land, including monastic property, privately owned land, and municipal land, in cooperation with the local community and relevant institutions.

Unexploded ordnance left behind following the 1999 bombing campaign remains present in this Belgrade municipality.

Since the beginning of the clearance operations, deminers have located more than 490 items of UXO, including artillery shells, hand grenades, mortar rockets, and other explosive remnants of war.

Thanks to the support provided by the United States to date, more than 13 million square metres of land have been returned to safe use.

For the Mine Action Centre, the continuation of this cooperation represents, above all, an investment in the safety of people and communities, as well as in the opportunity to gradually return land that has posed a risk for decades to citizens for safe use.

The new support is also a  result of the continued, longstanding and successful cooperation and strategic partnership between Serbia and the United States in the field of mine action.