Country & Territory Reports - Landmine Action

18 albania
isolated areas contaminated by ERW up to 20 kilometres
beyond the border area. 69 The 2003 Article 7 report provides
details of each contaminated area. 70 These areas are mainly
forest, agricultural and grazing areas, containing villages and
frequently used routes for travel over the border – both legal
and illegal – into Kosovo. Officials of the Albanian Mine
Action Executive (AMAE) have described ERW as posing not
only a physical threat, but also having “a major impact on the
already harsh lives of those who live in the affected areas …
Nearly 120,000 people, mostly living in abject poverty,
whose livelihood depends on farming, herding, gathering
firewood and other subsistence activities and also obtaining
essential supplies across the border, are profoundly affected
by the presence of mines and UXO.” 71 A further serious
concern is the effect of ERW on integrated border
management in the region. It is virtually impossible to control
the Albanian side of the border with Kosovo because of AP,
MOTAPM and ERW contamination. 72 This has implications for
EU border integrity as smugglers of drugs, asylum
seekers/economic migrants and women for the EU sex
industry are believed to enter Albania via these routes before
crossing from Albania to Italy.
The threat in Albania includes AT mines laid by Former
Yugoslav Republic (FYR) forces, UXO and submunitions
from FYR rocket artillery, and NATO cluster munition
strikes. 73 An added complication is that no records of
minefields are available. 74
The following submunitions have been found among
broader ordnance contamination in Albania: KB-1/KB-2,
Mk118, BLU 97 and BL 755. 75 MOTAPM identified include
TMM-1, TMD2, TMN, TMA1, TMA2, TMA3, TMA-5 and
TMRP6 and are of Yugoslav manufacture. MOTAPM and
general ERW is considered less of a problem than that
posed by anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs. Other
ERW is not considered to be a major problem, although
ammunition and small-calibre weaponry taken from the
army in 1997 and often stored in households in north-east
Albania is of concern and a potential threat to the civilian
population – especially children. 76
Albania’s 2003 Article 7 Report under the Mine Ban Treaty
indicates that of a total suspect area of 4,599,262 sq m 53
per cent was considered mine affected, 34 per cent ERW
affected and the remaining 13 per cent were thought to
have mixed contamination. 77
According to the Albanian Mine Action Executive website,
in 2003, 142 items of ERW were destroyed along with
1,814 APMs. 78 However, in the same period, the
International Trust Fund (ITF) states that the two clearance
organizations operational during the period – the Swiss
Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) and Danish Church Aid
(DCA) – cleared 1,737 mines and 112 items of ERW. The
difference may result from clearance activity by the
Albanian Armed Forces or from weaknesses in the AMAE
reporting system. As of October 2004, according to AMAE,
it is believed a total of 33 cluster munition strikes remain
to be cleared. 79
erw and motapm – global survey 2003–2004
Impact
A record of landmine and UXO incidents in the border areas
is maintained by the AMAE in Tirana. The number of people
killed or injured by mines and UXO in the so-called “hot
spots” in other parts of Albania since 1997 is not known as
these areas do not fall within the mandate of the AMAE. 80
Between 1999 and June 2004, AMAE records indicated that
a total of 207 AP, MOTAPM, ERW incidents resulted in 269
casualties (34 deaths and 235 injured) including the
deaths of six children. Some 10 per cent were military or
police, 8 per cent were deminers, the remaining 82 per
cent were civilians. 81 Of these civilian casualties, some 116
deaths and 47 injuries were known to have resulted from
MOTAPM, ERW and cluster munitions. 82
In 2002, seven mine/ERW casualties were reported in
north-eastern Albania. Two Albanian farmers were killed in
an ERW (BLU 97 cluster bomb) explosion while grazing
cattle on the Kosovo side of the border. Four casualties
resulting from mines and UXO were reported in 2003.
In 2004, two ERW and MOTAPM incidents resulted in a
total of six deaths and 18 injuries. On 15 May 2004, two
boys and two adults were killed in a MOTAPM incident
while gathering herbs in Kukes province. This was followed
on 24 May 2004 by an incident during a classroom-based
training session for HI deminers during which a NATO KB1
cluster munition exploded – killing two and injuring 18.
Since 1999, approximately 90 per cent of ERW and
MOTAPM casualties have been men. 83 A survey undertaken
in August 2002 84 appears to show that 70 per cent of
those living in or near contaminated areas knowingly
entered mine/ERW areas. Of those surveyed, 70 per cent
said that they had an economic need to enter affected
areas – 25 per cent to get to work, 24.5 per cent to graze
animals, 12 per cent to collect firewood, 4 per cent to
collect winter animal feed, 3 per cent to collect items for
selling at market, and nearly 2 per cent to go to school.
The AP, MOTAPM and ERW problem has also had an impact
on infrastructure development. For example, the UNDP
technical adviser states that “in 2002, 88,379 sq m. had to
be cleared by Danish Church Aid-Action by Churches Together
(DCA-ACT) and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) for
the construction of a critical road. The impact of mine
contamination on the social environment should not be
underestimated. Some water sources in north-east Albania
are still blocked by mined areas. The entire Albania/Kosovo
border, prime land for eco-tourism development, is a
wasteland because of mines and UXO.” 85
Efforts to address these problems
The Albanian Government appears to recognise the social
and economic impact of ERW and mines. The Albanian Armed
Forces started clearing the so-called “hot spots” in 1998 and
is still in the process of mopping up the last remnants of that