Background

Following wide-scale public looting of army depots during the unrest of March 1997, over half a million military weapons and many tons of ammunition fell into the hands of the civilian population. Although a proportion of the weapons looted has been trafficked to Greece Kosovo and elsewhere, significant quantities remain in Albania. The Government of Albania estimated that it was able to recover only 18% of the weapons stolen so far.

This situation is considered one of the most critical problems facing the country today. Weapons possession has fueled widespread banditry and represents a constant threat to public order by significantly increasing the risk that political confrontations will degenerate into armed violence.

>In co-operation with the United Nations, the Government of Albania has undertaken to engage in a nationwide program of weapons recovery. Following the initial success of the Gramsh Pilot Program (GPP) "Weapons in Exchange for Development" implemented by UNDP, the Government is keen to replicate the program in other areas of the country.

b>The Gramsh Pilot Program (GPP)

The pilot program of "Weapons in Exchange for Development" was conceived by the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs (UNDDA) following a mission to Albania in June 1998 (headed by USG Mr. Dhanapala). In the course of the mission, it was agreed to adopt an innovative approach based on advocacy and provision of development incentives to people at the community level, to encourage them to voluntarily return the arms in their possession. This approach consists of giving equal emphasis to five key elements: symbolism, advocacy, community involvement and reward, voluntary surrender and possible public destruction of weapons.

Within the overall framework of supporting national efforts to collect unlicensed weapons and help restore public order, based on the rule of law, consensus and democracy, the objectives and activities of the Pilot Program include:

 Mobilization of resources and public support for the demilitarization of the civilian population on a voluntary basis, both at the national level and at the local level in Gramsh, through a nationwide public awareness campaign, and including limited assistance to strengthen the capacity of public order authorities in Gramsh;

 Assessment of development needs in Gramsh District and the identification of a set of priority small-scale, participatory, community-driven development projects. The involvement of communities in the selection and implementation of such projects gave the local population a direct incentive to surrender weapons and ammunition;

 In close collaboration with representatives of the Ministries of Interior and Defense, collection of arms and ammunition from the civilian population in Gramsh District is carried out on a voluntary basis. Weapons and ammunition collected were transported to the District police station where they were temporarily stored. The police then transferred them to military depots where they were placed into storage with the weapons and ammunition from previous collections.

Progress to Date

 The weapons collection process began 26^th January 1999. Collections were temporarily suspended during the Kosovo refugee crisis for two months. 5769 weapons and approximately 104 tones of ammunition were surrendered during the GPP.

 The Gramsh District Commission on weapons collection in its last meeting, requested another "Clean up" phase of weapon and ammunition collections. This was due to the fact that the population is in movement and more trust exists now between the UNDP and the community. This "clean up" phase consisted of visiting all the communes and collecting other munitions and weapons that were missed on the first collection phase. This process was finished by mid December and a further 211 weapons and over 33 tones of munitions were collected making it a worthwhile process.

 Safety procedures were produced for the safe handling, transport and storage of weapons and ammunition;

 Three Mitsubishi Pajero vehicles were delivered to the local police, to strengthen their capacity to respond to emergencies and provide a visible deterrent to crime;

 The first four development priorities, identified by the communities, have been initiated. They included a radio telephone system for the Gramsh District, a street lighting system for Gramsh town, and road rehabilitation for the Communes of Tunje and Kodovjat.

 A series of radio programs by the BBC World Service has been broadcast in parallel with the weapons collection process;

 A national television show was produced. TV ads are screened on a nightly basis; GPP has been featured on CNN, Euronews and other international channels;

 A national network of Albanian NGOs has been established to campaign on the need for voluntary surrender of weapons and ammunition;

 A major concert was held in Gramsh town to encourage weapons surrender and another one will take place shortly;

 Posters and T-shirts in favor of weapons collection have been produced and greeting cards were distributed to mark International Women’s Day, March 8^th.

 A public symbolic Weapons Destruction Ceremony was held on 17 September 1999 in Gramsh with the participation of President Rexhep Meidani and USG/DDA Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala; weapons destruction was carried out by mechanical cutting during the ceremony;

 Film star and producer Michael Douglas, SG's Messenger of Peace, visited Albania on 11-12 October 1999 where he witnessed and participated in the symbolic destruction of some of the weapons that had been collected. He appealed to the people of Elbasan to also participate in the surrender of arms and, during a press conference, he strongly urged the international community to support this worthwhile project.

 A round table was organized in Gramsh with women NGO-s under the theme "What impact had Gramsh Pilot project on the people".

 Special TV programs on disarmament issues have been organized in the main TV Channels in Albania.

 A photo show from the weapons collection project in Gramsh will be opened in Tirana in one-week time.

 One of the NGO members of the Albanian Disarmament network "For a Free of Weapons and Developed Society", has carried out a survey noting the number of disabled people owing to the availability of weapons, with this survey having been publicized in the press.

 More NGOs are joining the Albanian Disarmament network.

 The network newspaper is coming out once every two weeks.

 An artistic event with children under the theme "life is better without weapons" has been organized in Gramsh.

 A National Conference will be organized in mid-December in Tirana on disarmament issues with the main focus on the Gramsh project. UNDP and the Albanian Atlantic Association will organize this conference.

Development Activities

Development work has progressed in phases. The first phase, for works worth $375,000 included: (a) the rehabilitation of 5km of Tunja Road, (b) the rehabilitation of 4.6km of Posnovish Kishte Road, (c) the Urban Lighting of the Gramsh town, (d) the refurbishment of the commune post offices and, the provision of a telephone system for all the communes of Gramsh. This phase is already completed with the exception of the telephone system: the equipment has been delivered and the installation work is still ongoing.

The second phase, worth $342,000, includes (a) the rehabilitation of 5,6 km dirt road for the commune of Pishaj, (b) 2,6 km road and construction of a footbridge for the commune of Skenderbegas, (c) rebuilding of 3,5km road for the commune of Kukur and, (d) construction of a footbridge for the commune of Sult. The detailed technical project designs for all the development activities covering the whole district have been already completed and the tendering process for implementing the second phase of works has been carried out. The physical work in the projects of the second phase has already started and it is expected to finish before the end of May, meanwhile the public works that cover the development activities requested by the remaining communes will be tendered also before end of February.

The local authorities and people living in the area through participatory approaches and extensive information sharing have selected the priorities per each commune. They are expected to satisfy long waited basic needs of the local populations and solve part of the number of problems that they face in their normal life. For example:

The Pishaj project will make possible the connection of one of the largest areas of Pishaj Commune with the town of Gramsh. This area is very populated and it will serve not only Pishaj people but also the people of Gramsh town as it leads to one of the most beautiful places in Gramsh district.

The Skenderbegas project is very important as the road and the bridge will make possible the connection of the commune’s center with the town of Gramsh as well as with one of the adjacent communes.

The Kushove project will connect one village of 80 families with the rest of the commune. The road to this village crosses the Devolli riverbed, which when almost dry or has very little water, crossing on foot is not a problem. However, in the winter the river can be almost impassable.

The Technical Support Team (TST, provided by the British Government Department for International Development (DFID) UK) conducted and controlled the collection process by supplying safety data sheets for the transport and storage of the weapons and ammunition. This was to ensure that the movement and storage, as well as the collections, were carried out without incident or danger to the public or police. This was important if the program was to be replicated in other areas, as accidents during the collection would seriously damage the credibility of the program.

The Local Government and Police were very important partners when collections were undertaken. They played an important role in the process and their involvement included the safety and security of the collections, transportation to the final storage sites and the taking of serial numbers for inclusion on the weapons database.

A number of weapons handed in were not part of the Albanian military weapons looted in 1997, but were people's personal property. These weapons were treated exactly the same and taken into storage but were not included in the weapons database and will be destroyed accordingly.

Ammunition handed in was generally safe to handle, store, and transport however, there were some exceptions. Older rifle grenades were handed in with the fuse still in place. The fuses in these grenades have only one safety feature and careless handling (such as dropping) could arm the fuse. If this happens, the grenade could function if dropped a second time. Therefore, the removal of the fuse was essential upon receipt. This is undertaken by the Technical Representatives (TR's) or the trained Local Weapons Experts (LWE's) of the project. The TST controls all safety issues and registration of the weapons collection process. This is to prevent the police or military systems being overloaded with a large influx of weapons and ammunition.

Proposed Replication

The Government of Albania has requested the UNDP and UNDDA to expand the Gramsh Pilot Program into other areas of the country. Funds are now made available to expand the project in two other areas namely, Dibra and Elbasan districts (see separate project description).

Local authorities in each of these Districts have expressed their commitment to the collection of weapons and munitions, and civil society NGOs are ready to campaign and be involved in the weapons voluntary surrender. It is considered vital to establish a rolling program expansion to support these efforts with international resources in order to maintain public enthusiasm for the weapons collection and to ensure safety procedures are followed.

The goal of the proposed expansion will be to reduce weapons in the hands of the civilian population in the target areas in order to achieve three objectives:

 To improve public order and safety, through a reduction in weapons available to criminals, and through the reduction of accidental deaths and injuries;

 To mobilize public opinion in favor of a voluntary surrender of weapons and the restoration of legitimate public order authority;

 To offer employment-generating development incentives to local communities, as a reward for the voluntary surrender of weapons and the symbolic step taken by the civilian population toward a modern and developed Albania.

The Gramsh Pilot Project has received considerable support, both politically and financially, from the Group of Interested States in Practical Disarmament Measures. In addition to UNDP which has committed about $750,000 from its core resources, additional support has been received from the Italian Government (for the initial evaluation mission undertaken by USG Dhanapala), the Government of Norway $450,000, both directly to the project and through UNDP's Trust Fund for the Prevention and Reduction of the Proliferation of Small Arms, the Governments of Andorra, Belgium and Japan with $84,011, $132,000 and $100,000, respectively, the Department for International Development (DFID) of UK, providing two Technical Representatives to assist with the security aspects of the project.

Furthermore, Save the Children has provided backpack school kits for all first grade school children in Gramsh in partnership with the Gramsh Pilot Program and UNICEF provided disarmament posters.

Currently, UNIFEM is expected to contribute $50,000 for public awareness campaign, the Governments of Sweden, Norway and US have also made commitments for 475,000 US$, 1,000,000 NOK and 1,000,000 US$ respectively, Finland and UK (amounts to be determined). These last commitments represent a support for expanding the program to the districts of Diber and Elbasan, as mentioned earlier.

January 30, 2000 Update

Mr.Fred Yallop, Project Manager at 355 42 51014/51805 or email Fyallop@icc.al.eu.org

Ms. Nora Kushti, Project Public Awareness & Information Officer at +355-42-51014/51805 or email nkushti@icc.al.eu.org.