Ogata urged the donor community to spare no efforts to support mine clearance.
Mines represent the single most deadly heritage of the Bosnia war.
They will also alert returnees to the danger they face from land mines. The governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two constituent entities, the Federation and the Republika Srpska, have been under considerable international pressure to speed up demining. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds have suffered severe injuries in mine accidents. Most will remain physically handicapped and psychologically scarred for the rest of their lives.