During the Kosovo War, through a 78-day campaign to end the maddening inter-ethnic conflict, NATO dropped 1,392 bombs containing 295.700 sub-munitions on the country. In 2001, the UN declared Kosovo free of ordnance although an estimated 20 percent of those munitions didn’t detonate. Data from the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor show more than 100 people have been injured by explosives since then. Hundreds of rural families still find themselves unable to cultivate their own land - often the only source of income - due to numerous unexploded items buried in the soil. The de-mining agencies estimate that some 60 minefields remain— each littered with as many as a few hundred of bombs— and hope to clear them all by 2020. Several teams of workers drawn from local communities are hunting for the hidden bombs and landmines of Kosovo.
