The International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) has received a donation of US$ 4.64m for 2005, the Slovenian-run ITF said in a press release on Tuesday.
Made in line with a two-year agreement between Norway and the ITF, the donation will be largely used for demining in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, chiefly through the NGO Norwegian People's Aid.
Part of the 7th donation by Norway will also go for land mine victims rehabilitation, a programme carried out in collaboration with a Slovenian rehabilitation institute.
Having contributed US$ 27.2m to the ITF over a period of seven years, Norway is, according to the ITF, the second largest donor to the trust fund.
More than 400 sq. kilometres of fields in SE Europe remain land mine infested, according to the fund. The ITF believes that with a steady support of donors, SE Europe could be cleared by around 2010.
Since its establishment by the Slovenian government in 1998, the ITF has collected US$ 162m and helped demine more than 49 million sq. metres of minefields in SE Europe.
Moreover, 853 mine victims have been treated at Slovenia's Rehabilitation Institute and similar centres in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
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