The Entities Armed Forces (EAF) under instructions to the Parties 8
have been conducting humanitarian demining since the summer of 1998.
The EAF provides the largest demining effort in Bosnia and Herzegovina
(BiH) and their productivity and capability are ever increasing.
According Maj. Giles McCallum, British Chief of Mines Intelligence
from the HQ SFOR Engineer Branch, part of the capability enhancement
is the use of Explosive Detecting Dog Teams (EDDTs). Through donor funding
from Norway six EAF personnel, two from each entity, are currently being
trained as dog handlers.
"One part of the Canadian International Demining Centre is the
dog training branch called Canine Countermine. Canine Countermine has
both international and local instructors who have experience with Army
and police dogs," explained McCallum. "And this branch has
procured six dogs from Europe with the Norwegian funds and is now conducting
the training of both the dogs and EAF personnel. The training, based
in Bihac, is scheduled to take six months. After this time, the EAF
EDDTs will have received accreditation from the Bosnia-Herzegovina Mine
Action Centre and will be ready to start clearing minefields."
With the inclusion of EDDTs, the EAF demining effort will have the
full range of clearance techniques.
"EAF are currently qualified to carry out manual demining, mechanical
mining using the Bozena mini-flail, house clearance and UXO clearance.
After this course, the use of EDDTs will greatly increase the productivity
and safety of EAF demining," clarified McCallum as a good reason
for this very useful but also expensive training.